Before (Reupdated)
by KyoshiWarrior1997
Summary: A prequel to Don't Give Up. Explores the procees of how Conner (Revan) and Bastila fell in love. LSM Revan.
1. Chapter 1

**Before**

**A/N: Hi guys, this is the second grammar check for all my histories, sorry if I had been changing a lot the stories, but I haven't had time to really write my ideas. I hope this is the definitive version! **

* * *

**Chapter 1**

Conner, Carth, Mission and Zaalbar were walking along the streets of the Lower city, once they reached at the Hidden Beks' base they went inside to tell Gadon that they had recovered the prototype accelerator.

"You have returned. Do you have the prototype?" Gadon asked.

Conner nodded. "Yep, here is it." He said and gave it to Gadon.

"Good, now we can install this in the swoop bike." Gadon said and gave the accelerator to his mechanic. "Thank you and as I promised, I'm going to let you run in the Swoop race tomorrow."

"Thanks Gadon." Conner said.

"You can stay here tonight and tomorrow one of the Beks can take you to the swoop track." Gadon said. Conner nodded then he turned to Carth. "Carth; you, Mission and Zaalbar return to the apartment and wait for me." He said.

"Are you sure?" Carth asked.

"Yes." Conner answered.

"Okay. Good luck." Carth said.

"Thanks."

"Good luck Conner." Mission said as Zaalbar growled. "Big Z also wishes you luck."

"Thanks Mission." Conner said, before leaving the young Twi'lek gave him a hug. She already saw Conner as an older brother for her. When they left, Gadon took Conner to his bunker, and he lay on the bed until he fell asleep. The next day, Conner woke up early, hours later; one of the Beks took Conner to the swoop track. Once he reached at the track, he saw a lot of riders. At the back of the swoop track was a silver cage and inside the cage there was a woman. Conner tried to look at the woman, but two of the guards of the Black Vulkars blocked his sight.

The mechanic of the Hidden Beks explained to Conner the rules of the race. Once the mechanic finished, Conner went with the announcer to know the time to beat. Minutes later Conner went to his track and entered in the swoop bike. Moments later, Conner exited from the swoop race as claps and cheers came from the crowd.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I have the honor to announce the winner of the swoop race of this year." The announcer said. "Conner Desman from the Hidden Beks!"

Conner waved happily at the crowd as the Black Vulkars stared at him with anger. "And now to gave the prize to the champion, the leader of the Black Vulkars, Brejik." The announcer said. Brejik stood in front of the few members of his gang. "People hear me! Before I proclaim this so call champion, I must say the racer cheated!" Brejik said angrily.

"You're a damn liar Brejik. I won fair enough." Conner said. "Are you surprised that a rookie like me has beaten your swoop racer star?" He said.

Brejik growled at Conner, "Take the woman out of here. I will handle with the racer of the Beks personally."

"You can't do this Brejik." The announcer said. "This goes against our traditions."

"You fool, I'm the future and I do whatever I want." Brejik said, but before he could say anything else, Bastila freed herself from the neural restrainer and killed the two guards who were in front of her cage. She grabbed the vibroblade from one of the dead Vulkars.

"How did you managed to free from a neural restrainer?!" Brejik asked surprised.

"You underestimate the mind of a Jedi, a mistake you will never make again." Bastila said.

Brejik gave orders to his Vulkars to kill Conner and Bastila. The Vulkars charged against them, Conner grabbed his vibrosword and blocked the attacks from the Vulkars. Conner slashed the two Vulkars he had in front of him, when he turned around to see if there was more of those bloody Vulkars, he saw Bastila fighting against Brejik and one of his Vulkars. He tried to help her but one Vulkar surprised him from behind and knocked him on the floor, before the Vulkar could kill him, Conner kicked the Vulkar on the stomach and got up and killed the Vulkar. He turned around again and saw Brejik dead in front of Bastila as well as the other Vulkars. He smiled at their obviously victory, but Bastila looked at him with a cold look.

"If you think you could keep me like a prize, you are wrong." She said coldly.

"Whoa! Easy there princess, I came here to rescue you from those bloody thugs." Conner said raising his hands to calm Bastila.

"You call that a rescue?" She asked. "In fact, you can say _I_ rescued you." She answered.

"Okay, okay have it your way princess." Conner said. "But we don't have time for this, Carth is waiting" He said.

"Carth? Carth Onasi is alive?" Bastila asked surprised. "Finally, good news. Sorry for how acted before, I'm sure that Carth haven't sent you if he didn't trust you. Can you take me to him?" She said.

"Sure, but before we return to the Upper City, you probably want to use something to cover yourself, before your slaver's outfit call unwanted attention." Conner said.

Bastila blushed at Conner's statement. Since they stop fighting against the Vulkars, she noticed that Conner stared at her a few seconds before she spoke with him. "Do you have something I can use?" She asked

Conner took off his red jacket and handle to her. "Here, this is the only thing I have."

"Thanks." Bastila said and put on the jacket. The jacket was a little baggy for her liking, but at least she wouldn't feel all eyes on her.

"You look good." Conner said with a smirk.

"Can we go?" She asked.

"After you." He said making a signal with his hands. Bastila past beside him taking the lead, Conner rushed to her side as she didn't know where were they going. After a few minutes, they were walking to the apartment in the South area. When they reached at the door, Conner introduced a card in a rabbet and the door opened a few seconds later. They walked inside and were greeted by Carth.

* * *

"Bastila!" He exclaimed. "You found her, good; we can now think a way to get out of this planet."

"You mean you don't have a plan to get out of here?" She asked upset. "What have you done in the mean time?"

"We were trying to find you, remember?" Conner said.

"I see, but now that I'm back we can figure something to get out of here." Bastila said.

"What makes you think you are in charge here?" Carth asked getting upset.

"I am a Jedi, which makes me the natural leader of this mission. I don't have to remind you that I was the one who was put in charge of this mission." She said.

Conner who was getting frustrated spoke louder that Carth and Bastila, "Hey! Stop it, you two. What am I, your babysitter or something?"

Carth and Bastila stooped arguing after this statement, leaving the two very surprised. "Wow." Was the only thing Carth could say.

"Okay, so what now?" Carth asked minutes later.

"First, we can't argue who is the leader. We are a team, so everybody is equal, okay?" Conner said the two just nodded. "And second, we are going to work together to get out of this planet."

Conner walked and bent down next to steel box and then he handled to Bastila some clothes.

"Here" He said.

"What is it?" Bastila asked.

"These are your Jedi robes and your lightsaber; we found it on the Vulkars' base." Conner answered.

"Thanks, at least I will be more comfortable." She said.

"Your welcome." Conner said smiling.

Bastila entered in the bathroom and changed her clothes, meanwhile Conner asked Carth where Mission and Zaalbar were, he answered that they had gone to buy food. Minutes later Mission and Zaalbar returned. After they ate dinner everyone went to their beds, except for Bastila.

Seeing that she didn't have a bed Conner rubbed the back of his neck and approached to her. "Hey you can have my bed." He said.

"Oh, no. I prefer to sleep on the couch." She said.

"Take it. I prefer to sleep on the couch." He said.

"Thanks."

"See you in the morning." Conner lying down on the couch and fell asleep.

* * *

_Conner stood in the middle of a big hallway of a ship, red lights and smoke flood the atmosphere, at the distance, sounds of blaster shoots and lightsabers could be heard. Suddenly, Conner found himself on the bridge of the ship, everything seem destroyed. Smoke came from the consoles as corpses where on the floor._

"_You can not win Revan!" A voice of a woman said._

_Conner turned around and saw a group of Jedis standing in front of a Dark Lord. In front of the group, Bastila held her lightsaber with the yellow blade on. Darth Revan took his lightsaber from his belt and ignited it. A red blade from the lightsaber appeared and he swung it, but before he could fight the Jedi team, fire came from the window._

* * *

Conner woke up in cold sweat and was breathing heavily. He turned around and saw that the others were still asleep. Conner stood up and grabbed his jacket and exited the apartment and walked around the Upper City. An hour later, Conner returned to the apartment and found everyone up. Fortunately no one asked him where he had gone. After having breakfast, the group talked about where they could found someone who could take them out from Taris.

"Maybe we should look in the cantinas; there are many interesting things there." Conner said.

"Okay, but we should split out, three of us can go the cantina in the Lower city, and two of us can go to the cantina here in the Upper city." Carth said. Everyone else nodded and minutes later they exited the apartment. Carth and Conner would go to the cantina in the Upper city and Bastila, Mission and Zaalbar to the cantina in the Lower city.

After walking a few minutes they reach at the Cantina. Carth and Conner entered in the cantina looking for someone who could take them out from Taris.

"Okay, so what now?" Carth asked looking at the crowd.

"We split up. If you found anything, look for me. I would do the same if I found anything." Conner answered.

Carth nodded and started to walk away from Conner disappearing in the crowd. Conner walked to the bar and sat on a bank. "Hey, could you give me a Felucian drink?" He asked to the bartender. While he was waiting his drink, four thugs approached to Conner.

"Why this cantina still allows scumbag from the Lower city?" One of them asked.

"Great." Conner mumbled.

"Yeah, why you don't return to the Lower city where you belong?" Another asked.

"Well, I didn't know that they also allowed rich spoiled kids." Conner said.

"What did you say?" The first thug asked angry.

"Relax, Sugar Queen, I was joking." Conner said placing a hand on the thug's shoulder.

"Hey, bigmouth! Maybe you can't count, but there are four of us and one of you!" The thug said.

"So get more guys, and then it'll be an even fight" Conner said with a smirk and turned around. But one of them grabbed Conner from the shoulder and turned him around punching Conner on the face. He fell on the bar and turned to see the guy who had punched him. The thug smiled and tried to punch Conner again, but Conner kicked him in the chest, sending him against an empty table breaking the glasses that were on. The other thugs tried to punch Conner; one of them threw a punch but Conner blocked the fist and punched him on the face. Carth heard the noises and went to see what was happening, he made his way through the crowd and saw when Conner turned to fight the other two thugs, one threw at him, but Conner grabbed a bottle and hit him with it. The fourth thug pushed Conner against the bar, Conner get up and tried to punch the thug but the first thug grabbed Conner , so one of his friends could give him a beating, Conner saw what was about to happen and kicked him in the stomach and then he gave a header to the thug who was holding him. When Conner freed himself, the second thug punched Conner in the face and he fell on the ground, the thug grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and put him face up on a table and started to punch him on the face. But before he could break his nose, someone whistled stopping the fight. Conner saw a man with gray hair and big muscles.

"Get out of here before something happens to you." The man said. The four thugs run out from the cantina, the man drew his attention to Conner who still was on the table bleeding from the nose and mouth.

"Are you right kid?" The man asked.

"You have one hell of whistle you know that?" Conner said.

* * *

Minutes later, the cantina had returned to normal. Conner and the man, whose name was Canderous Ordo, were sitting on a table. Conner had napkins hanging from his nostrils and a big bruise near his right eye as well a small cut in his nose bone and on the forehead near his left eyebrow. Carth handled to Conner a bag with ice.

"Here" Carth said giving him the bag.

"Thanks." Conner said and put the bag on his eye. Carth sat next to him.

"Sorry, what were you saying?" Conner asked.

"That I've a plan to get out from this planet." Canderous said. "I watched you on the swoop race and I saw you standing against those four thugs, and while you were drooling on the floor I started thinking: Anyone crazy enough to race like that and to stand all alone in a fight, is crazy enough to break on the Sith base."

Conner seem surprised, he took off the napkins and said, "Why you want me to break in the Sith base?" Then he turned to the bartender asking for a beer.

"Here's the reason, no ship can get of from this rock without the proper codes, and those codes are on the Sith base." Canderous answered.

Conner sipped his beer, "So how do I fit in?" He asked.

Canderous chuckled, "You break in the Sith base, steal the codes and return with me. Once we have the codes I'll take you with Davik Kang. Lord of the exchange. There in is his state we can still his ship, the Ebon Hawk the fastest ship in the Outer Rim and then we can get out from this planet. What do you say?" He asked.

"I don't know if we can trust in this guy." Carth said.

"Hey, Orange! Do you have another plan?" Canderous asked.

"No." Carth answered.

Canderous turned to Conner, "So?"

"Let see, break into the Sith base, steal the codes, go with Davik Kaang, steal his ship and get out from this planet." Conner said and thought for a moment, "I'm in."

"That's good to hear. I'll be waiting in the cantina of the Lower City." Canderous said.

"Okay, Canderous right?" Conner said getting up.

He nodded his head. "I'm Conner and Orange here is Carth." Conner said shaking hands with Canderous.

"I'll be waiting." Canderous said.

Conner nodded and he and Carth walked to the exit and returned to the apartment. But before they could enter in the apartment, Carth stooped him.

"Sure you want to enter like this?" He asked pointing at the bruises and dry blood of his face.

"C'mon, it was a good fight." Conner said smiling.

"Sure, but if Canderous hadn't whistle, you probably would be on an infirmary unconscious." Carth said.

Conner chuckled and entered to the apartment. Inside Bastila was waiting for them.

"What take you so long?" She asked.

"We were looking for some one who could take out form the planet." Carth asked.

"Did you found anyone?"

"Yep, someone is going to take us out from the planet once I give him some codes." Conner said.

"And where are you going to take the codes?" Bastila asked.

"From the Sith base." Conner answered.

She looked at him with surprise but noticed the bruises on his face. "What happened with you?" She asked.

"I get into a fight in the cantina." Conner answered.

"Are you out of your mind?!" She asked upset.

"Relax, princess I wasn't kill right?" Conner said walking toward the bathroom to wash his face, Bastila only rolled her eyes. Hours later, Conner, Bastila and T3 (a droid they had bought thanks to Canderous) were walking towards the Sith base.

"Are you right?" Bastila asked.

"What?" Conner asked surprised.

"You seem distracted." She answered.

"Oh, it's just that last night I had a strange dream." He said.

"About?"

"I was on a ship and I saw you fighting a Dark Lord. Revan, I guess."

They stooped for a moment. "This is strange, but such dreams indicate visions." Bastila said.

Conner looked at her oddly. "This happens when an individual is Force sensitive."

"Wait, are you saying I can use the Force?" Conner asked.

"I don't know, but once we get out from this planet. We can seek the wisdom of the Jedi." Bastila said.

Conner nodded, minutes later they reached at the Sith base. T3 hacked the lock and the door opened. "Let's go." Conner said as they entered in the elevator.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Once the door of the elevator opened, a Twi'lek stooped them. "Hey, what are you doing here? Tell me or I will hit the alarm." She said.

"Wait, don't hit the alarm. Here, I have 50 credits they are all yours if you don't hit the alarm." Conner said.

"50 credits? It's a deal, but let me get out of here before you start shooting." The Twi'lek said, she took the 50 credits and left the base. Conner approached to the computer and entered on the system.

"What are you doing?" Bastila asked.

"Hacking the system. It's a trick Mission thought me." Conner answered. "C'mon."

They walked trough the hallway until they reached at the main hall, were more hallways were, also were some energy cells and in one of those cells was the Duros alien Conner had helped. The Duros asked Conner if he could free him, Conner nodded and deactivated the cell. The Duros thanked Conner and got out from the Sith Base. After walking for a moment, the trio reached at the Control room. There Sith troopers started to shoot at them. Conner took his blaster pistol and started to shoot at the Sith. Bastila took her lightsaber from her belt and charged against the Sith. Once they killed the Sith troopers, Conner hacked the system again and opened the elevator. They walked towards the elevator, but more Sith troopers attacked them, after killing them, they reached at door where the area of the elevator was. The door opened and revealed a big droid with a powerful shield; fortunately, they destroyed the droid and opened the door of the elevator.

When reached at the main control center, Conner opened the door and inside was a man with a double-vibroblade.

"Who are you to break my concentration?" The man said. "Wait, I sense that the Force is strong within you. But you aren't a Jedi. This is strange."

"Are you a Sith?" Conner asked.

"No yet, but once I kill you my master will reward me giving me my lightsaber." The man said and charged against Conner. Conner dodged the attack and started to shoot at him. Bastila ignited her lightsaber and tried to hit the man with her lightsaber. He blocked the blow and charged against her; Bastila blocked the blade and swung her lightsaber. The man put Bastila in stasis and turned to Conner, he charged at him and Conner took his vibroblade. He blocked every blow of the man, Conner rolled down and stood up behind the man and killed him.

When the man died, Bastila came out from stasis and asked what happened, Conner told her that he had killed the man, then he searched for the codes, when he found the codes, they went out from the Sith base and returned to the apartment. The next day, Conner, Carth and Bastila went to the Cantina in the Lower City where Canderous was waiting.

* * *

"He said it was here?" Carth asked outside the cantina.

"Yes." Conner nodded.

"Okay, let's go." Carth said and they went inside. After looking for Canderous, they found him near the bar.

"I hear what happened. The Sith base had a break in. You know something?" He asked.

"About?" Conner asked sarcastically.

Canderous smiled and Conner gave him the codes, "Good, now you can come with me at Davik's state." Canderous said. "I have a speeder here, the sooner we get there the better."

Conner nodded and turned to his friends. "Carth, do you want to accompany me?" Conner asked. Carth nodded. "Bastila, you return to the apartment and tell Mission and Zaalbar to be ready, I'll call you when we have the ship." Conner said.

Bastila nodded and returned to the apartment. Carth, Conner and Canderous left the cantina and headed to Davik's state, once they reached at the state, Davik greeted Canderous. "Ah, Canderous I see you have brought a friend." Davik said.

"Are you getting tired of being alone Canderous?" Calo Nord, a bounty hunter said. "You're getting soft."

"Watch yourself Calo; you may be the newest kath hound of the pack, but you still have to learn a lot." Canderous said.

"Alright, I won't allow that my top men kill each other. Canderous must have good reasons why he is not working solo anymore." Davik said.

"That's right. Davik, I brought someone who is looking to work with you, he raced at the swoop race the other day." Canderous said.

"Ah, yes…I now recognize your friend. Well, if Canderous said you're good, then you must be." Davik said. "Please stay here, I'll check your backgrounds, you can go to the slavers' room down the hallway, but don't disturb my other guests or you will deal with the guards."

"Thanks Davik, I'm looking forward to work with you." Conner said.

Davik nodded, "Come Calo let our guests have a peaceful rest." He said getting out from the room with Calo behind him.

"Okay, we are in. Now we must go to the hangar." Canderous said.

"Let's move." Conner said. The trio left the room and looked the hallway for guards; they walked down the hallway and entered in the main hall of the state. They kept walking but found a Rodian guard who started to shoot at them. When the guard was killed, they kept walking down the hallways of the state until they reached at the "special guest room". When they walked inside, a man was being tortured in an energy cell. Conner got close to the panel control and deactivated the cell.

"Oh, thanks. You have no idea how's to be in that energy cell." The man said.

"I couldn't sit there and watch you suffer." Conner answered.

"I have nothing to give you, nothing tangible anyway, but I can give you the security codes to deactivate the security system of the Ebon Hawk. I used to be the pilot of the ship, but Davik locked me here later." The man said.

"Thanks for the codes. Go now." Conner said.

The man nodded and left the room. "Good, we better leave. The sooner we get out from this planet, the better." Canderous said.

The group continued walking along the hallways until they reached at a mess hall, when they entered, a group of guards attacked them, they shoot at the guards and killed them, and they continued walking fighting with more guards. Once they reached at the hangar, they saw that the Sith were starting to bombard the planet.

"Damn those Sith, they are going to destroy the whole planet!" Davik said from the opposite side of the hangar. "I wonder…oh look what we have here, thieves in the hangar." He said looking at the trio.

"So you think you could steal my ship from me and let me here to die while the Sith are bombarding the planet? Sorry, but that ain't going to happen."

"Let me take care of them Davik, I've been waiting for this." Calo said.

"Make it quick Calo; I'd hate to be on this rock." Davik answered. He and Calo pointed their blaster towards the group. Conner and the other two made the same and started to fire at them, Conner and Carth concentrated their fire on Davik and Canderous shoot at Calo. Finally, Davik died, but that didn't stop Calo, who take out a thermal detonator.

"You may have killed Davik, but if I'm going down, you're coming with me." Calo said, but before he could activate the detonator, the ceiling fell on top of him, the group stayed surprised but ran towards the Ebon Hawk. Once they went inside the ship, Carth entered in the cockpit and took off. Conner called Bastila through the communicator and told her that she and the others needed to be ready. Five minutes later, the Ebon Hawk was outside the apartment complex, the rest of the group came out running and climbed on the ship, once everyone was on the ship, the Hawk left the surface of the planet. Once the ship passed through the Sith blockade, Sith fighters started to chase the Ebon Hawk.

"I have introduced the coordinates to go to Dantooine; there we can seek refuge on the Jedi Enclave." Bastila said.

But one of the Sith fighters shoot at the ship causing to shake. "Quickly, to the gun turrets! You need to stop those fighters while the ship is tracing the route." Carth said.

Conner nodded and he and Canderous went to the gun turrets and started to fire at the Sith ships. Six ships were shooting at the Hawk, Conner started to fire and destroyed one when it came at the target look. Meanwhile, Canderous destroyed two Sith fighters with one shoot. Once the six fighters were destroyed, the Hawk entered in hyperspace. Conner came out from the gun turret happy but also sad for the destruction of Taris. He entered in the cockpit and sat on the navigator's chair.

* * *

"How long it will take to arrive at Dantooine?" Conner asked a little sad.

"Two days, once we land, I'll talk with the Jedi Council about the mission." Bastila answered with the same tone of voice.

"Damn man. Mission has just lost her home. I can't believe how hard this is for her." Conner said.

"I know the feeling." Carth said. Conner looked at him oddly about the statement but ignore it. "I'm going to see how she is." He said getting up and walking to the main hold. Carth stood up behind Conner and also walked to the main hold.

When Conner entered in the main hold, he saw Mission sitting in front of the holoprojector the Hawk had, behind the seat was Zaalbar. Conner approached to the seat and sat next to Mission. "Hey kiddo." He said.

"Huh?...Oh. Sorry I'm just a little bit shaken. I just can't believe Taris is gone, I grew up there and now…it's…just gone." Mission said sadly.

"Don't worry; Malak will pay for what he did." Conner said placing his hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah, well if the Jedi get rid of Revan, then I guess they will get rid of Malak too." Mission answered.

"Don't worry. We are all here for you." Carth said.

"So, where are we heading?" Canderous asked moments later entering in the main hold.

"Dantooine, there's a Jedi Enclave there, we can seek refuge. Also I need to speak with the Council about some new developments." Bastila said.

"We'll be arriving in two days, so I suggest we relax until we arrive." Conner said.

Everyone agreed and went to their bunkers, the next day, Conner found Mission in the main hold looking at some holocrons. "Hey Mission." Conner said.

"Hi Conner." She answered.

"How you been feeling?" He asked.

"Better, thanks. But right now, I'm bored."

"Yeah, I can see that. Hey, you want to play a prank on someone?" He asked.

Mission's eyes lit up, "That will be cool, but who are we going to do the prank?" She asked.

"Well, certainly not our Jedi commander. I wouldn't like her stabbing me with her lightsaber." Conner said. "But I know who is the perfect victim, c'mon. I'll show a prank I used to do when I used to hang with a gang of smugglers." The two left the main hold and walked towards Carth's room. An hour later, everyone was on the main hold, when a very angry scream came from one of the hallways. Carth stepped inside the main hold with his face covered with blue circles.

"Wow, what happened with you?" Conner asked.

"I don't. I was just taking a nap and when I woke up I was covered with blue circles!" Carth said upset.

"Do you know anything?" Carth asked.

"No, I've been here all day." Conner answered shaking his head.

"Mission, do you know anything?" Carth asked.

"No." She said shaking her head. "I've been with T3 all day."

Carth walked outside from the main hold to the bathroom to wash off the blue circles. "I promise if I found who did this, he will know who is to be trained in the Republic fleet." His voice said as he walked off. Once, Carth was away, Conner and Mission started to laugh.

"Nice one Conner." Mission said.

"I told you, it will work." Conner said.

"Wait, you did that?" Canderous asked.

"Yeah, and if I were Carth, I wouldn't leave the ship in the next days until the ink is completely away." Conner answered.

"Don't you think you are old enough to make pranks?" Bastila said a little upset.

"C'mon Bastila. Even you thought it was funny, I think I saw a faint smile on you face when Carth entered." Conner said.

"Do you always act so childish?" She asked.

"Sometimes." Conner answered giving her a smirk. She rolled her eyes and returned to read her book. After two days, the Hawk arrived at the system were Dantooine was, they were only a few hours from the planet. Before the ship reached the planet's orbit, Conner decided to take a shower. He came out from the refresher and dressed up with his khaki pants and his black boots, with his towel across his shoulders and his white long-sleeve shirt in his right hand, he returned to his room to put on a clean shirt.

As he was walking to his room, he was drying his hair with the towel. From the opposite direction, Bastila was walking with two datapads in her hands; she was reading one of them so she didn't notice Conner, as he didn't notice her until they bumped with each other. She dropped the datapads and he dropped his shirt.

"Sorry, I didn't saw you there." Conner said bending down to pick up the datapads.

"No, it's okay. I was distracted." Bastila said bending down to help him. She grabbed one of the datapads and saw a white cloth and picked up. She examined it and realized it was Conner's shirt.

Conner was already standing up and examining the datapad, just to be sure if it wasn't broken. Bastila stood up and turned to Conner to give him his shirt, but when she looked at him, she found with a shirtless Conner. She could feel a small blush appearing on her face at the sight of his bare chest. Conner had a well-defined six pack and muscular arms, his entire upper body was muscle. Bastila couldn't tell what it was, but she liked how Conner looked with his wet hair and shirtless.

"Here's your datapad." Conner said giving her the datapad.

"Oh…thanks." Bastila said shyly. "Here's…your…your shirt." She said giving him his shirt.

"Thanks." Conner answered, then he realized that Bastila hadn't take her sight from him. "See anything you like?" Conner asked teasing.

"No, I…I was just thinking that we are going to arrive at Dantooine in a few hours so I suggest you should go and put some clothes on." She said.

"Okay, see you later." Conner said and winked at her. Three hours later, the Hawk landed on Dantooine near the Jedi Enclave, as soon as the ramp lowered down, Bastila left the ship and headed to the Enclave. She walked along the courtyard and stepped inside where the Council was.

"Masters." She said bowing in front of the Council.

"Padawan Shan, it´s good to see you. After we heard what happened in Taris, we were afraid you didn´t make it in time." Master Dorak, a historian of the Order said.

"Thank you Master, but I need to discuss some recent discoveries." Bastila said.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"Are you sure of this Padawan?" Master Vrook asked.

"Yes." Bastila answered.

"Big news, these are. Bring him to us." Master Vandar said.

"As you wish Master." Bastila said and bowed in front of the Council. She exited the Council Room and returned to the Hawk. Inside the Hawk, Conner and Carth were talking in the main hold.

"So, when are you planning to go outside?" Conner asked.

"Until I don't look like a Rodian with blue pox." Carth answered.

"C'mon Carth, it's almost gone." Conner said smiling.

"Yeah, but I prefer to wait until is it completely gone."

"Okay, whatever makes you happy."

Bastila found Conner and Carth in the main hold, "I've talked with the Council briefly. They want an audience in private with you Conner, to talk about your…abilities." She said.

"A private audience with Conner?" Carth asked confused. "What's going on Bastila?"

"I'm sorry Carth, I can't talk about this. I only ask you to trust me for this time." Bastila answered.

"Okay, we'll do things your way, for now. But I don't like to be left out from the loop." Carth answered a little upset.

"C'mon, we should not keep the Council waiting." She said turning to Conner. Conner nodded and the two left to the Council room. While they were walking across the Courtyard, a Padawan named Belaya scolded Conner for not using the robes of a Padawan, Conner explained to her that he wasn't a Padawan, although Belaya saw him with distrust she believed him. After the small distraction, Bastila and Conner entered in the Council room, where a pink Twi'lek by the name of Zhar Lestin greeted them.

"Padawan Shan, please come in." Master Zhar said.

Bastila bowed in front of the Council, and Conner did the same.

"Let me introduce you the Council." Master Zhar said to Conner.

"He is Master Vandar, Master Vrook and Master Dorak. I am Zhar Lestin." The master said. Conner nodded in agreement.

"You must be Conner Desman, right?" Master Vandar said.

"Yes, Master." Conner answered.

"Good, Bastila has told us that you are Force-sensitive." Master Vandar said.

"We have been considering you for training." Zhar said.

Conner looked confused, so Master Vrook was the one who spoke next. "Maybe Master Zhar is talking out of turn. We need proof of your strong affinity to the Force before we even consider you for training."

"Proof?" Bastila asked a little bit shaken. "I'm sure all the Council can feel how strong the Force is within him." She said.

"Yes, you are right Padawan. The Force within your companion is strong, but also wild and dangerous." Master Dorak said.

"Master Dorak is right Vrook, we know that Malak's threat is getting bigger for the galaxy, more and more of our Jedis brothers and sisters die at his Sith and Dark Jedis, and those who are luck, fell to the Dark Side and swear alliance to the Dark Lord." Master Zhar said.

"We will train him, with Revan dead…" Master Vandar said, but Master Vrook cut him off.

"Are you sure Revan is dead? What if we take this one for training and the Dark Lord should return?" Master Vrook asked.

"We will discuss this in private. Bastila, you and Conner return to your ship. We will summon you once we have finished." Master Vandar said.

"As you wish Master." Bastila said bowing in front of the Council. Conner did the same and the two left the Council room. When they returned to the Hawk, Conner decided to play pazaak with the others. Later that night, Conner experimented another vision.

* * *

_Revan and a young Malak without his metal jaw were walking through the golden plains of Dantooine. They entered in a temple and continued walking through doors, until they reach at the main hall of the Temple. _

"_The Jedi Council surely is going to exile us from the Order." Malak said as Revan paced anxiously through the room._

"_Are you sure the Star Forge and its secrets worth more than the Code of the Jedi?" Malak asked. Revan looked at him, although he was wearing his distinctive mask and black armor and robes, surely doubt was on his face. With a move of his hand and using the Force, the door opened and the two walked inside, where a strange machine started to show a map._

* * *

Conner woke up covered in cold sweat, he sat at the edge of his bed and took a deep breath to relax. He looked through the window of the ship and realized it was still night. Conner lay down on the bed again and stared at the ceiling of the ship until six o'clock. In the morning, Conner got up from bed and changed his clothes; he left his room and found Carth in the main hold.

"This morning is getting stranger by the minute, first Bastila came out as if she had seen a ghost and now you." Carth said.

"Did she say something?" Conner asked rubbing his sleepy eyes.

"Not much, she only said you must meet her in the Council room. Are you fine?"

"I'm fine. I just had a rough night."

Conner left the Hawk and started to walk to the Council room, when he arrived, the masters greeted him. "Ah, Conner, please come in." Master Zhar said.

Conner walked and stopped in the middle of the room and bowed in front of the Council. "Bastila had told us something amazing that just had happened. She claims that you and her had shared a vision." Master Dorak said.

"A vision? How is it possible?" Conner asked.

"The Force has forged a bond between you two. This is not unheard of; such bonds create between master and apprentice, but they rarely develop so fast." Master Zhar said.

Master Vandar now turned to Bastila, "You said Revan and Malak were looking for something, right?" He asked.

"Yes Master, they were looking for something it was called the Star Forge." Bastila said.

Master Vandar stayed silent for a minute. "This news about the Star Forge are disturbing Padawan. This might be the key of how Revan and Malak assembled a fleet so fast." He said.

"Padawan, you and Conner have a new mission, you should go to the ancient ruins that are north of here and look for answers about the Star Forge." Master Dorak said.

"But for this mission we will train Conner in the ways of the Jedi." Master Vandar said. "The Force is strong with you, but is also wild and untamed. Training you will serve you to resist the lure of the Dark Side." Master Vandar said.

"I will do my best Master." Conner answered.

"The path of a Jedi is difficult; you must rely on the wisdom of the Code and made the right choices or you will be doomed to fail." Master Vrook said.

Conner took a deep breath, "I'm ready to begin my training." He said.

"Good, Master Zhar will train you and Bastila will be your partner in training. She is young but more experienced; don't be afraid to turn to her when you have doubts, fears or thoughts. You two are linked, whatever action you do can affect the other." Master Vandar said.

"I just hope you don't fall in all-familiar path too." Vrook said.

* * *

The next weeks, the group stayed in Dantooine. Mission and Zaalbar usually went out of the Enclave to explore the surroundings, Carth decided to walk around the courtyard after the ink was completely gone, T3 and Canderous stayed on the ship. As the days passed, Conner was developing his powers faster than any other Jedi in the Enclave; he did in weeks what another Jedi did in years. Also in this time, Conner and Bastila passed much time together, slowly she started to trust him and she even noticed how Conner had change his own personality, sometimes he still was arrogant and vain, but he had left his childish attitude behind. After four weeks, Zhar welcomed Conner in the Order with the rank of apprentice and told him that in a few days he will be taking his Jedi initiation to become a Padawan.

Three days before his initiation, Bastila was looking for Conner; she hadn't seen him since the training. She entered in the main hold where everyone was. "Has anyone seen Conner?" She asked.

"He's out." Carth answered.

"Out?" Bastila asked. "What is he doing out there?"

Carth shrugged, "I don't know." He said. "But he said he hadn't been on a planet for too long, so he decided to take a walk."

"Thanks Carth." She answered. Carth nodded and Bastila left the main hold. It was raining, so she put on the hood of her robe and ran towards the main hallway of the Enclave. She lowered her hood and searched for Conner. She found him a few meters away; he was leaning against a big boulder standing in the rain.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"Enjoying the rain, I had forgotten how it felt." He answered.

"So, you didn't remember how the rain felt?" She asked raising an eyebrow.

Conner chuckled, "I'm also thinking."

"About?"

"Everything I have been through. One day you're a smuggler recruited by the Republic fleet and crashes in a Sith occupied world, and the next you're training to become to become a Jedi."

Bastila chuckled, "I know, it can be hard to take."

Conner smiled and closed his eyes. A few minutes later, he was meditating; Bastila could feel his peace though their bond, so she closed her eyes too.

"_**Hey"**_ Conner's voice said in her head.

Bastila opened her eyes and saw the Conner still had his eyes closed. "Conner did you..?" She was about to asked, but Conner's voice cut her off.

"_**Talked to you? Yes, but I'm doing through the bond."**_ His voice said.

"_**How did you do that?" **_She asked through the bond.

"_**It wasn't too difficult, I just concentrated."**_

Bastila closed her eyes and concentrated. _**"See, it wasn't too difficult."**_ He said.

"_**Well, you were right." **_She answered.

"_**Now open your eyes." **_He said.

"_**Are you sure?" **_She asked.

"_**Yeah, right now I have my eyes open."**_

Bastila opened her eyes and saw Conner staring at her with a small smile. _**"See? We can talk like this whenever the situation demands it." **_He said.

They stayed silent for a while, until Conner broke it. "Well, I better return to the Hawk or I'll get a cold out here." They return to the Hawk, and Conner went to his room to change for a set of dry clothes.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

The day of his Jedi initiation, Conner woke up early than he used to. He took a shower and dressed up. Seen that was still early, Conner went to the kitchen of the Hawk to prepare breakfast and sat on the table to eat it. A few minutes later, Bastila woke up, after dressing up she went to the kitchen and found Conner sitting on the table reading a datapad.

"Hi Conner." She said entering in the kitchen.

"Morning." He answered with a smile.

"What are you doing up so early?" She asked sitting in front of him.

"Well, since today is my Jedi initiation, I decided to wake up early to prepare myself." He answered.

"What are you reading?"

"About which classes of Jedi are. Master Dorak told me I needed to read this for today, so I could choose what class of Jedi I'd like to be."

"Hey, I hope you don't mind. But since we have been companions, I will like to ask you some questions about you." Bastila said.

Conner lowered his datapad, "Sure." He said.

"Good. Now what is your name?" She asked.

"Conner Desman."

"On which planet you were born?"

"Deralia."

"Good. Your current age is?"

"6,017. Healthy and alive you now." Conner answered with a smirk. But Bastila wasn't too happy.

"Is everything a joke to you?" She asked upset, she was about to rise from the table when Conner placed his hand over hers. She felt a small jolt of electricity and turned to him.

"Wait, I didn't mean to upset you." He answered. "I get carried away. If you want to know about me, then I'll tell you."

"My name is Conner Desman, I was born in Deralia. I'm twenty-six years old. I've been a smuggler for twelve years until a few months back when the Republic recruited me due to my vast knowledge in alien languages. I used to move from one planet to another, and I hate to wake up early."

"Well, it's good to know that you are not taking this as a joke." She answered.

Conner smiled, an hour later everyone was awake. When Conner was walking to the ramp, he noticed Carth, Canderous, Mission and Zaalbar on the training room.

"Hey guys, what are you doing?" He asked stepping inside the training room.

"Hey, I thought you were on your Jedi initiation." Carth answered.

"It doesn't starts 'til midday." Conner answered.

"Well, that's good to hear; maybe you can teach Orange a few moves for fighting." Canderous answered.

"With all due respect Canderous, you think Conner knows about hand-to-hand combat?" Carth asked.

"Of course he knows! You saw him on the cantina back on Taris, if he hadn't known how to fight; he'd still have a broken nose." Canderous said.

"Canderous is right Carth. I know how to fight hand-to-hand. When you grow up with a band of smugglers, you have to know how to survive." Conner answered.

"Well, show us what you have." Carth said.

"Sure, I learnt that you don't have to give all your energy in one strike. You've got to be quick and accurate. You've to hit in several points and break your opponent's stance, and when he's reeling back, you deliver the final blow. He will fall down due to his own weight." Conner explained.

"You also need to have a firm stance, so you can't be easily defeated. Your primary objective is to tire your opponent."

A few minutes later, Conner was showing his explanations with Canderous, Canderous tried to hit Conner but he was quicker, so he dodged Canderous and hit him on several point of his upper body, when Conner saw that Canderous was reeling, he delivered the final blow, and Canderous fell down due to his own weight. Carth, Mission and Zaalbar clapped and cheered Conner.

"Good one Conner." Canderous said sitting up on the floor.

"Thanks, you wanna try Carth?" He asked.

Carth nodded, they adopted postures of fighting, Carth charged at Conner but he rolled beside him and stood up behind him, Carth tried to attack Conner, but he used a circle-walking, Carth spun around, he was beginning to feel tired, Conner use this in his advantage and did the same he do with Canderous.

"You're right?" Conner asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Carth answered getting up. "You are a good fighter."

"Thanks, I should go to take a shower before my initiation." Conner said walking towards the hallway.

"Good luck!" The others said.

"Thanks."

* * *

After taking a quick shower, Conner dressed up and went out from the ship, while he was walking towards the Council room, he found Bastila in the hallway. "Where you have been?" She asked worried.

"In the ship." Conner answered.

"You know that your initiation starts in a few minutes?" She asked getting upset.

"Relax princess, I was on my way." Conner answered smiling.

"_Stop calling me that_!" She answered more upset. Conner smiled and passed beside her. When he arrived at the Council room, he bowed in front of the Masters.

"Good afternoon, my apprentice. I hope you are ready for your initiation." Master Zhar said.

"Good afternoon, Master. I'm ready to begging my tests." Conner answered.

"Good. Please, follow me." Master Zhar said and started walking to the training room with Conner behind him. When they arrived, Master Zhar explained to Conner that he needed to pass three tests before becoming a Padawan. The first test was to recite the Jedi Code, once Conner did it, Master Zhar told him that he needed to go with Master Dorak, so he could choose what class of Jedi he wanted to be. After completing a small test, Conner chose to be a Jedi Guardian, so Dorak gave him a blue crystal. When Conner returned with Zhar, he told Conner that he needed to construct his lightsaber. Conner walked to the workbench and started to construct his lightsaber, when it was finished, Zhar congratulated him. Then he told Conner what his final test was, he needed to go to the Ancient Groove to eliminate a Dark presence that was there. Conner nodded and left the Enclave with Canderous and Carth. When they were walking through the courtyard, a farmer named Jon asked Conner if he could take care of some Mandalorians who killed his daughter. Conner agreed and the trio left the Enclave, in their way to the Groove, kath hounds attacked them but they managed to defeat them.

When they arrived at the Groove, they found a Padawan meditating, she had fallen to the Dark Side, Conner could feel the taint within her. When she noticed the trio, she stopped meditating and put Carth and Canderous in stasis leaving Conner alone, she ignited her lightsaber and Conner did the same. The Padawan attacked Conner, but he blocked her blow, after several minutes of blocking and attacking, the Padawan finally surrender. She told Conner that her name was Juhuani and that she had fallen to the Dark Side after slashing her Master. Conner told her that she still had a second chance to redeem herself at the eyes of the Council, she thanked Conner for helping her and the four returned to the Enclave. After the Council thanked Conner for returning Juhuani to the light, Master Zhar promoted Conner to Padawan.

* * *

The next day, Conner, Canderous and Zaalbar went out from the Enclave to explore the plains. When they were walking a few meters away from the Matale's state, they heard voices of the Mandalorians thugs; they approached slowly behind the rocks and trees that were there.

"Hey, isn't that the pathetic farmer you agreed to help?" Canderous asked mumbling.

Conner looked over the rock and saw that the Mandalorians were beating a man, which Conner recognized as Jon. "Yeah, it's Jon." Conner answered mumbling.

"Your daughter was a fool to say no, but we hope you aren't a fool as she was." One of the Mandalorians said. "So, I'm going to ask you again, are you going to give us your land?"

Jon lifted his head, "Over…my dead…body." He said upset.

The Mandalorian chuckled. "That's not going to be a problem in a few minutes." He said.

"What do you want to do?" Canderous asked.

"Rescue him, and defeat them." Conner said.

"I don't like your plan." Canderous answered.

"C'mon Canderous, you even said that those Mandalorians had lost their honor." Conner answered. Canderous kept quiet and sighed; he knew Conner was right, after what he had told him.

"Hey!" Conner said to the thugs.

The Mandalorian ordered to one of his Duros allies to hold Jon, while he and the others fought against Conner and his companions. When the trio killed almost the entire gang, the Mandalorian stabbed Jon on the stomach and ran away with other two members of the gang.

"Jon!" Conner said and rushed to Jon's side. He lifted his head. "C'mon Jon." Jon coughed blood, which caused Conner to be stain with Jon's blood. Conner placed both hands over Jon's abdomen to stop the bleeding.

"C'mon Jon, don't close your eyes." Conner said.

"I'm…I'm…sorry master Jedi…but they…they caught me…out of guard." Jon said.

"We'll take you to the Enclave. Just hang on." Conner said.

"They…wanted the lands…but I gave them nothing." Jon said then he coughed more blood. "Please…promise me…you're going to take care of those…Mandalorians."

"I will." Conner answered. "Focus on me Jon." He said trying to keep Jon awake, but all his efforts were in vain, when Conner looked at Jon, he had stopped breathing and his eyes were lifeless. Conner knew Jon was dead; he closed his eyes and laid him on the floor. At the feeling of being so useless, Conner let out a scream of frustration which was heard until the Enclave. After they buried Jon, the trio returned to the Hawk, outside the ship was Bastila and noticed that Conner was very angry.

"Conner?" She asked but he passed beside her without a word. He climbed on the ship and locked in his room.

"What happened?" She asked both Zaalbar and Canderous. Hours later, Bastila knocked on Conner's door. "Conner? It's Bastila, may I come in?" She asked. She waited a few minutes and decided to leave.

"_**Please don't go." **_Conner's voice said through the bond.

"_**Are you fine?" **_She asked through the bond.

"_**No, I need to speak with someone."**_ His voice said.

"_**May I come in?"**_ She asked.

"_**Sure."**_His voice answered. Bastila opened the door and stepped inside, she found Conner sitting on the edge of his bed, his arms were resting in his tights and his fingers were intertwined. He was glazing at the floor.

"Conner." Bastila said, he lifted his head meeting her eyes, his eyes were red, she realized Conner had been crying. His hands were covered with blood and his shirt was stained also with blood.

"Canderous told me what happened."

"Did he tell you I tried to save him?"

She nodded her head, "Yes. As Jedi, we can't always save the people we want." She said.

"I tried everything to save him, and those bastards killed him. I swear if I see them, they're going to die." Conner said darkly.

Sensing his anger and hate growing, Bastila decided to calm him. "Don't let your darker emotions come in the way, or you will fall to the Dark Side." She said.

"How you can be possibly sure the Dark Side is so bad?"

"The lure of the Dark Side is hard to resist, when you let your anger or hate take control of you, you start, without noticing, your fall."

"And when the time passes, it gets more and more difficult to resist, and when you notice you have fallen, it's too late, it twists you and transforms you in someone different, a human capable of doing terrible things, killing millions of innocent."

"So you're saying if I make a mistake I could fall to the Dark side?" Conner asked.

"I hope not, I know you're going to make the right choice when time comes." Bastila answered.

Conner drew a faint smile on his face. "Come, you should get out of here, you also need to clean your face and your hands." Bastila said, a few minutes later, Conner washed his hands and Bastila gave him a towel when she noticed a few scars on his fists.

"Conner, what happened?" She asked.

Conner sighed and said, "When I locked myself in the room, I felt so angry that I decided to take out with a column, I hit it until I got tired."

"Next time, try to recite the Code to calm yourself." She said.

Conner turned around and walked to the refresher, while Bastila was cleaning the sink. When she turned around, she found with a shirtless Conner again, she felt a light blush.

"Conner." She said shyly. "What…are you doing?" She asked.

"I'm going to take a shower." He answered. "Unless you want to see me, well you know." He answered teasing and with a smirk on his face.

"Why…you…I…Argh!" Bastila said with a red color on her face. "Forget it, why you always have to be so insufferable?" She asked upset. Conner only smiled.

"I'm going to tell the others that you're fine." She said and went out from the bathroom. Conner closed the door behind him. Two days later, the Council told Conner that he needed to go to the ruins, he nodded and with Bastila and Carth left the Enclave and headed towards the ruins. In their way, they fought against the same Mandalorians that killed Jon. After they killed the Mandalorians, they continued their way to the ruins. They reached at the ruins and went inside, in the main hall; they found an ancient droid who tried to speak with them in a strange language. After a few tries of understanding the droid, the droid spoke in a language well known for the trio.

"_Welcome, I greet you, are you looking for the Infinite Empire and the Star Forge?" _The droid said in an archaic variant of the Selkath language.

"Hey, the droid is speaking Selkath." Conner said.

"Indeed, ask him what the Star Forge is. He seems to respond to you." Bastila said.

Conner nodded. "What is the Star Forge?" He asked.

"_The Star Forge is the maximum construction of the Builders, the Star Forge is everything. Constructed centuries ago. Every slave was killed after its conclusion."_ The droid said.

"Well, that doesn't help too much." Conner said.

"_You are like the ones who came before, not Builders but also not slaves_." The droid said this surprised the trio.

"Who came before? You think the droid mean Revan and Malak?" Conner asked confused.

"Maybe." Bastila answered.

"Tell me about the ones who came before us." Conner said to the droid.

"_The ones who came before you were seeking the knowledge of the Star Forge_." The droid said.

Conner turned to Bastila; this was what they had seen in their vision. Revan and Malak in the Temple looking for the Star Forge, but what was it? They couldn't know.

"You think the Star Forge is a type of factory?" He asked.

"Maybe, but if that's the truth that explain how Revan and Malak assembled a fleet in a short time." She answered.

"_You have to prove yourself worthy if you want to know about the Star Forge. It secret is sealed behind this door_" The droid said.

"How can we prove ourselves worthy?" Conner asked.

"_You have to enter on the East and West wings to break the seals. But if you fail, the Temple is going to take care of you as it did with him_." The droid said.

The trio looked at the dead body next to the droid. Conner realized it was one Jedi of the Enclave. He took a deep breath and headed to the door on his left. "Come on, let's break those seals." He said.

The door opened and a droid started to shoot at the trio. "Okay that droid didn't mention anything about droid guards." Carth said upset.

The two Jedi charged against the droid blocking with the lightsabers every blast of fire. The slashed the droid deactivating its shield, but the droid continued shooting at them, Carth used his blaster and shoot repeatedly at the droid, which exploded.

"Thanks." Conner said.

"You're welcome." Carth said.

Conner saw a big console, he walked to it and pressed a button, but nothing appeared on the screen, then he saw a port and introduced his datapad, he pressed again the same button and some characters appeared, later more characters he recognized appeared.

`**Give three primary life-worlds**.´ The screen said.

_Three primary life-worlds? _Conner asked himself. "Easy, they are: oceanic, arboreal and grassland." He typed in the computer and the seal broke.

* * *

The trio left the room and went to the other, they prepared their weapons and opened the door, but this time the droid stood there without attacking them. The trio walked in cautiously looking at the droid. Conner walked around the droid and noticed something he didn't like.

"Clear the room!" He yelled at his companions.

The trio ran far from the droid and took refuge behind the walls of the room. Carth refuge on the left and Conner took Bastila so he could protect her. They refuged just in time when the droid exploded.

When the dust and debris settled, the trio was still shocked. "Carth are you fine?" Conner asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Carth said.

Bastila had her eyes closed and heard everything so far, she could feel someone's breath on top of her head, she opened her eyes and saw darkness, she looked up and realized that Conner had protected her from the explosion.

"Princess, are you alright?" He asked with concern on his voice.

"Yes." She answered. "What happened?" She asked but Conner embraced her.

"Don't do that again." He said. Moments later they entered in the room and found a same console like the one in the other room, but this time was about three death-worlds. When Conner solved the puzzle, the seal broke and they returned to the main hall. The door behind the droid opened and they went inside where the strange machine opened and revealed a Star map, but this was incomplete, they realized they needed to go to Tatooine, Kashyyyk, Manaan and Korriban so they could complete the map. The exited the Temple and returned to the Enclave.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

As soon as the trio returned to the Enclave, Conner and Bastila headed to the Council Room, while Carth returned to the Hawk. The two Jedis entered in the Council Room,

"Ah…Conner, Bastila. Please come in, I hope you have news about what you found in the ruins." Master Vandar said.

The two Padawans bowed in front of the Council then Conner spoke. "We have information about the ruins." He said.

"We found that the Star Forge is some kind of factory, but we were unable to locate it. The map we saw was incomplete." Conner explained.

"Incomplete?" Master Dorak asked.

"Yes master, but the map showed us other planets where we can go so we can complete it and discover the location of the Star Forge." Bastila said.

"Which are these planets?" Master Vrook asked.

"Tatooine, Kashyyyk, Manaan and Korriban." Bastila answered.

The Master exchanged looks and then, they turned to the two Padawans. "We will discuss about these news in private, when we have finished we will summon you." Master Dorak said.

Conner and Bastila bowed in front of the Council and returned to the Hawk. The next day, the Council summoned them. "Padawans, Master Dorak seek in our archives information about the Star Forge, but he didn't find anything, so we decided to send you to these planets to complete the Star Map and locate the Star Forge." Master Vandar said.

"Finding the Star Forge is important, Padawans. The number of our Order falls everyday, this is the only opportunity we have to stop Malak and his followers." Master Zhar said.

"Conner, you and Bastila share a bond, so you can not be apart for this mission, you two can help each other, also Juhuani has requested to go with you and we have approved her request." Master Vandar said.

"Masters, there are others who I want them to come." Conner said.

"You are allowed to take those you helped you in Taris, their abilities can help you in this mission." Master Vandar said.

"There is a reason why are we not sending a Master with you, Malak's followers are more every day and sending a Master with you may call unwanted attention from the Dark Jedis." Master Vrook said.

"So, when I can go?" Conner asked.

"Whenever you want. The sooner you found the Star Maps, the better." Master Vrook said.

"May the Force be with you." Master Vandar said.

Conner and Bastila bowed in front of the Council and exited the room, when they were far, Master Vrook spoke. "Let's hope this young man doesn't make the same mistakes from his past." He said.

"So, when do you think we should go?" Conner asked while he and Bastila were walking in the courtyard.

"I don't know, but you heard Master Vrook, the sooner we leave the better." She answered.

"Okay, we leave tomorrow at first hour, okay?" Conner said.

"Sure." Bastila answered.

"If you have things to pack, then do it. I'll tell the guys." Conner said. She nodded and went to her old room. Conner returned to the Hawk and told the crew that they were leaving at first hour the next day.

"Where are we going?" Canderous asked.

"Tatooine is the first planet we are going to search." Conner answered. "Before we leave, a friend I met a few weeks back is going to give us supplies for the journey. So, let's rest tonight and tomorrow we can go."

"Hey Conner, can I talk with you?" Carth asked.

"Sure, what's the matter?" Conner said.

"Yesterday, Zaalbar told me that when he and Mission were scouting around the Courtyard, Mission found with Griff's girlfriend." Carth said.

"Lena?" Conner asked confused.

Carth nodded. "Yes, after speaking with her, Mission came pissed off, I think you should go and talk with her." He said.

"I will, thanks Carth." Conner said and went to Mission's room. He looked inside and saw Mission lying on her bed looking at the ceiling.

"Hey kiddo." Conner said from the doorway.

"Huh? Oh…hi Conner." Mission said sitting up on the bed.

"Carth told me what happened yesterday, are you ok?" He asked.

"Yes." She answered.

"What did Lena told you?" He asked leaning against the metal wall.

"That Griff had let me down and that he was the one who said I didn't want to go with them." Mission said a little upset.

"So, where's your brother?" Conner asked rising an eyebrow.

"Lena said he is with the Czerka in Tatooine, you think maybe we can look for him there?" She asked.

"Sure, as soon as we land, we are going to seek him." He answered.

"Thanks, Conner." Mission answered.

* * *

Conner nodded and left the room. The next day, all the crew got up early, the Hawk was supplied with food and medpacs, An hour before the Hawk left, Juhuani boarded the ship and Conner introduced her to the crew and told them that she was to travel with them and would help with the mission, so they had to make her feel welcome.

Conner entered in the cockpit where Carth and Bastila were checking the ship one last time. "Hey guys, we are ready to leave." Conner said sitting on the navigator's chair.

Carth nodded and ignited the engines off the ship, the Hawk took off from Taris and they traced route to Tatooine. Once the route was traced, the ship entered in hyperspace.

"It's ready; we are going to arrive at Tatooine in three days." Carth said.

* * *

The _Leviathan's _shell shone with the Sun of the nearest planet system, Darth Malak was on the bridge of the ship looking at the vast universe. Behind him, Saul Karath entered in the bridge.

"Lord Malak, the Star Forge is working at 200% this is over our expectations." Saul said.

"I am more interested on how our Jedi friend escaped from Taris, Admiral." Malak said still looking at the space.

"I have a witness of her escape, my Lord." Saul answered and made a signal to one of the soldiers. The door opened and Calo Nord entered escorted with two Sith soldiers.

"He is Calo Nord, a well-known bounty hunter who was left for dead back on Taris. Calo said that Bastila escape with the help of Carth Onasi, a decorated war hero." Saul said.

"Do you know him?" Malak asked.

"Yes my Lord, Onasi served under my command back at the Mandalorian Wars. He was the best of the unit; you can say I was his mentor." Saul said.

"A war veteran and a Jedi, is amazing how you survive." Malak said.

"I'm hard to kill, lord Malak." Calo answered.

"Nord has agreed to help us for a very reasonable price my Lord." Saul said.

"Her companions mean nothing to me Calo; bring her to me, alive if it's possible." Malak said darkly.

"As you wish, Lord Malak." Calo said and returned to the hangar.

"My Lord, there is something you should know about her other companions, one of them is very interesting." Saul said.

"I hope you are not wasting my time Admiral." Malak said.

"No my Lord, but we need to talk this in private, far from other ears." Saul said.

* * *

The Hawk was two days away from Tatooine, the crew had been playing pazaak and talking about what they knew about the planets where they were going, Canderous complained about Tatooine, he said that Tatooine was a pit of world; he even said that he hated the sand. Mission said that she was excited to know Kashyyyk, the planet where Zaalbar came from, but Zaalbar wasn't too excited to return to his homeworld. Even Juhuani admitted that she wanted to know the planets she read from the archives while she was studying in the Enclave.

Conner was glad that everyone got along, only two of the crew were missing, Bastila, who was meditating in her room and Carth. Conner stepped inside the cockpit where he found Carth sitting on the chair of the pilot. Conner took a deep breath and sat on the navigator's chair.

"Hey Carth." Conner said.

"Hey." Carth answered.

"You know, you have been very quiet these days." Conner said crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"Well, I guess I don't like to be left out of the loop." Carth answered.

"Left out from the loop?" Conner asked confused.

"Yes, you know, left out of the loop not being told anything. You were a great help in Taris, but why they kept you with us? I mean, they didn't have to train you?" Carth asked.

"Well, they said that I have already completed my training." Conner answered.

"But why? That's no normal; you are just a neophyte Padawan who has the mission to investigate for some old Star Maps." Carth asked upset.

"The Jedi said that Bastila and I share a powerful bond, that's the only thing I'm going to say." Conner answered.

"A bond? How's that even possible?" Carth asked confused.

"That's _none_ of your business Carth." Bastila said. Carth and Conner turned to the door and saw her standing in the doorway.

"How long you have been there?" Conner asked.

"Just a few minutes, but long enough to listen to your conversation." Bastila answered.

"So, you are not going to tell me what is happening, right?" Carth asked feeling frustrated.

"No, but it will be wise to trust in the wisdom of the Jedi, Carth." She answered.

"Well, if you are not going to tell me what is happening, then some one will, it's not going to be long until I became betrayed again." Carth said getting up from the chair.

"No _one_ here is going to betray you Carth! _We_ are not Saul." Conner answered.

"We'll see." Carth said walking towards the main hold. Conner sighed and he and Bastila also went to the main hold. The next day, Conner was on the training room, he was practicing with his lightsaber a new trick he had learnt a few days ago. He had his eyes covered and was holding his lightsaber, he was swung it while a simulator droid was shooting at him. Bastila was walking by the hallway when she noticed Conner in the training room. She stood on the doorway and looked him carefully.

She could see how he handled his lightsaber; he swung it like if it was another part of his own body. She had learnt from the Masters that the lightsaber was a tool and a weapon for the Jedis, but she never imagined seeing the lightsaber like other part of her body, she even admired his concentration. After a few minutes, Conner deactivated his lightsaber and took off the bandage he had used to cover his eyes, he grabbed a towel and started to dry his hair quenched in sweat.

"How long you have been there?" He asked without turning around.

"How did you know it was me?" She asked.

Conner chuckled and turned around. "We have a bond, remember? I can feel your presence as you can feel mine." He said.

"You are right." She said. "What were you doing?"

"I was using the Force to augment my hearing senses." He answered.

"And you had a bandage over your eyes because…?" She asked curious.

Conner chuckled and leaned against the workbench. "As a smuggler I learnt that you need to know and be aware of your surroundings, so I came here and studied carefully the training room. You wanna try?" He said.

"No, thanks. But I like to know the technique you were using with your lightsaber." Bastila answered.

"Okay, I'll show you, but with one condition." Conner said smirking.

Bastila looked at him confused, she was about to ask, but Conner spoke before she could do it. "The condition is, you are going to do everything I tell you to do. Agreed?" He asked.

Bastila nodded, Conner smiled. "Okay, show me your stance with your lightsaber." He said.

Bastila stood in front of Conner and grabbed her lightsaber, then she adopted her usual position of attack. Conner examined her stance and noticed her hands to far from the center of her lightsaber.

"Your hands need to be more close to the center of your lightsaber, so you can be more agile when you're fighting." Conner said. "You need to believe that your lightsaber is an extension of your body, even with the two blades, you still need to believe that the two blades are part from the same weapon."

"Let me show you." He walked to Bastila. "May I?" He asked. She nodded. "You need to place your hands here and here." He said placing his own hands above hers and moved them closer to the center of the lightsaber. Bastila felt a small blush appearing as she could feel the warmth of Conner's body.

"With this, you'll be more accurate in your strikes." He said. His voice sounded like a sweet melody for her, and his breath was warmth against her skin. "Can I try?" She asked shyly.

"Oh…sure." Conner said taking a few steps back. Bastila swung her lightsaber and remembered every word Conner told her. "Good, keep practice it and you'll do it great." Conner said.

* * *

Later, that night, Conner experimented a vision, like the one he experimented back on Dantooine. This time, he saw the Star Map located in a cave with statues in ruins at the back of the cave, the species of alien were strange, so he didn't recognized the aliens. Conner woke up, covered in cold sweat; he got up from his bed and went to the refresher. He let the cold water calm his mind while he was meditating in his vision. Hours later, the Hawk landed in Anchorhead, before the crew could descend, Bastila spoke with Conner.

"Did you saw the vision?" She asked.

Conner nodded and said, "It looked like the Star Map was hidden in a cave."

"Yes, but it's difficult to find a cave here in Tatooine. The planet is covered with sand. Maybe the Star Map was hidden there to protect it from the sand and the dust." She said.

"Well, we are going to find it out." Conner said.

The group gathered in the main hold and Conner said that he needed two people to go with him; they needed first to found the location of the Star Map, so he and Bastila could go there. Mission and Zaalbar agreed to go.

"Don't worry Mission; while we are here we are going to look for your brother." Conner said to the young twi'lek.

The trio descended the ramp and were greeted by an official of the Czerka, who told them that they needed to pay a landing permission of 100 credits, Conner paid it and left the hangar.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

The trio started to walk around the dusty streets of Anchorhead looking for the Czerka office, when they found it, they went inside. When they entered in the office they found a Duros alien arguing with the Czerka manager. When the alien stopped arguing, he left very angry. Conner took a deep breath and approached to the manager.

"Excuse me." Conner said.

The manager looked up and stood up, "Good morning and welcome to Czerka office, before you ask, we are no longer selling license hunter, how can I help you?" The manager said.

"Um… we want to know if you have an employee call Griff Vao." Conner said.

"Griff? Sorry but I haven't heard that name before." The manager said.

Conner took 30 credits and showed them to the manager. "Maybe 30 credits can refresh your memory?" He asked.

"That could work." The manager said taking the credits, she walked to her desk and took out a datapad. "Let's see…yes, here is it. Vao, Griff. A very lazy worker, he used to fake injuries and sleep during his turns, we considered firing him but we need workers." She said.

"Do you know where he is?" Conner asked.

"Sorry, but we had an attack a few days ago due to the sand people, we didn't find his body, so we believe he was taken captive." The manager said.

"You said something about hunting license." Conner said.

"Yes, but we are no longer selling them." The manager said.

"Why would I need a hunter license anyway?" He asked.

"The hunter license gives you permission to go outside Anchorhead; of course I can sell you one if you agree to do us a favor." The manager said.

"What kind of favor?"

"We have a problem with the Sand people. They attack our sand crawlers and they are becoming a great problem. If you go to the Enclave south of here and kill the chieftain and bring me his gaffi stick I will reward you." The manager said.

Conner thought for a moment. "Okay." He said.

The manager nodded and gave Conner a hunter license, he thanked and left the office, outside the office the same alien who was a few minutes ago told Conner that he didn't believe that the Sand people were animals. He told Conner that they could communicate with them if he had a droid who could speak the language of the Sand people, Conner asked him where he could find a droid like that and the Duros alien told him he could seek in Yukalaka's droid store which was at the end of the street, Conner thanked and he and his companions went to the store.

But before they could arrive at the store, they found with three Dark Jedis who were sent by Darth Malak to kill Conner and his companions, the Dark Jedis attacked the trio and Conner and the others fought against the Dark Jedis, after a few minutes, Conner slashed the last Dark Jedi. He grabbed the double-lightsaber and the trio continued their walk to the droid shop, when they arrived, the door opened and stepped inside the shop, Conner examined the store and saw several droids, one of them caught his attention. It was a tall, copper-color droid which was at the bottom of the store. Then an Ithorian alien approached to Conner.

* * *

"_Greetings human, I'm Yukalaka and welcome to my droid shop, how can I help_?" The alien said.

"Um…I'm looking for a droid who can understand the Sand people's dialect." Conner said.

"_I have_ _only one droid_." Yukalaka said and he pointed to the droid Conner saw moments before. "_HK-47 is the only droid who can understand that dialect, but I haven't tested all his functions, let's say he is not cooperating_."

"How much for the droid?" Conner asked.

"_5000 credits_." Yukalaka said.

"Can I convince you to lower the prize?" Conner asked.

"_4000 credits, no more_."

"Okay, I'll buy it." Conner answered.

"_You will? Of course you will!_" Yukalaka said excitedly.

Conner gave to Yukalaka the credits and he deactivated the chip. Conner thanked Yukalaka and he approached to HK.

"Statement: I see you have purchased me master. My name is HK-47. Can I kill something for you now?" HK said.

"Kill something for me?" Conner asked concerned.

"Affirmation: Yes, I'm an assassination droid master, but I'm not going to kill unless you told me to do it." HK said.

Conner looked at the droid with a worried look; he sighed and told Zaalbar to return to the Hawk while he, Mission and HK went outside of Anchorhead to seek out for the Sand people's Enclave. The trio started to walk to the gates of Anchorhead, but before they arrived, a Jawa asked Conner for help. The Jawa told Conner that members of her tribe were kidnapped by the Sand people; Conner said he would look for them and continued walking to the gates. When the trio was in front of the gates, a Czerka officer approached to them.

"Good evening, I'm the Czerka officer in charge of the people who exits and enters in Anchorhead. Are you a hunter? Because if you aren't, I can't let you go outside." The officer said.

"I'm a hunter, here is my license." Conner said showing his license.

"Good, I'm only going to scan your license and you can go outside and came inside as you please." The officer said, he took Conner's license and scanned it with his datapad. He made a sign to open the gates, once the gates were opened: Conner and the others went outside. They started to walk through the vast sea of dunes.

* * *

After a few minutes walking, Conner saw wreckage at the distance, he walked to the wreckage but a group of Sand people attacked them. Conner grabbed his lightsaber and ignited it, Mission and HK raised their blasters and pointed to the Sand people. Conner charged at the elite warrior and attacked him, the elite warrior took out his gaff and tried to hit Conner with it, but Conner blocked the attack with the lightsaber and slashed the elite warrior, which fell dead in front of him. Conner turned around and saw that HK and Mission had already took care of the other two warriors. Conner looked at the dead bodies lying on the sand and an idea struck him. He bent down next to the corpse and started to search his things.

"Conner, what are you doing?" Mission asked.

"If we are going to the Sand people's Enclave, we need disguise." Conner answered. After a few minutes, Conner found two tunics of the elite warrior and he gave one to Mission, after they put them on, he, Mission and HK started to walk towards the Enclave. They saw many Sand people standing guard outside the camp, Conner took a deep breath and passed the heavy guard and the trio entered in the Enclave, but when they entered, one of the members of the Enclave recognize them.

He took them to the chieftain and took off the tunics, leaving them in their clothes they were using. Although Conner couldn't understand what they were saying, he knew that the Chieftain wasn't too happy to see strangers around his Enclave.

"Translation: It seems that the Chieftain is not happy to see us, master." HK said.

"Tell him, we are not a threat." Conner said.

"Statement: As you wish master." HK answered and he talked to the Chieftain in his language, which cause the Chieftain to answer.

"Translation: He doesn't believe you master. He says the human species had done nothing more but invade sacred land." HK said.

"Ask him if there's a way if his people can stop the attacks at the Sandcrawlers." Conner said.

HK did what Conner asked, as the Chieftain answer the question. "Translation: The Chieftain is planning to move his tribe away from Anchorhead, but to do this he needs moisture vaporators, if he has them, the attacks will stop."

Conner thought for a few seconds. "Tell him we are going to give him the vaporators." He said.

HK traduced this for the Chieftain, and he answered what Conner had said. "Translation: He doesn't believe you master, but if you return to the Enclave with the moisture vaporators, he will stop the attacks. We are allowed to re-enter in the Enclave once he have return, but right now, we are going to be escorted outside the Enclave."

One of the Chieftain's warriors escorted the trio outside the Enclave, Conner and the other two returned to Anchorhead, when they were in the city, they entered in the Czerka office and approached to a Rodian who was there, Conner asked him if he had any moisture vaporators. The Rodian answered yes, but he said he only had one model right now and told Conner he sold it to him for 200 credits; Conner agreed and bought the vaporators. Then, the trio returned to the Sand people Enclave where they were received by the same warrior who had escorted them earlier. Once they were in front of the Chieftain, HK became again the translator.

"Translation: The Chieftain seems surprised that we have returned master." HK said,

"Tell him, he have the moisture vaporators." Conner said.

"Affirmation: As you wish master." HK said and then he spoke with the Chieftain. "Translation: He doesn't believe you master, but you have done more than any other stranger, he will stop the attacks and as a sign of his promise, he will give you his gaffi stick."

The Chieftain walked to Conner and gave him his gaffi stick, Conner made a small bow in front of the Chieftain. "HK ask him if he can liberate the prisoners he has," Conner said.

HK communicate this to the Chieftain. "Translation: He will release the prisoners. We are free to take them." HK answered,

"Good, just one last question before we go." Conner said.

"Statement: We should not take his time master." HK said.

"Don't worry, is going to be fast." Conner answered. "Ask him if he knows something about a Star map."

"Translation: He says yes master. He says that this thing you are looking for is on the Eastern Dune Sea, he will give you a map to get there." HK said.

"Thanks." Conner said and bowed in front of the Chieftain as the trio left that section of the Enclave. They walked around the Enclave until they reached at the section where they had their prisoners, Conner opened one of the cells where there were the Jawas of Izis, the Jawa who had asked Conner for help, and he told the Jawas to run to Anchorhead. Then he opened the other cell and looked inside. Inside there was a blue Twi'lek like Mission.

"Thanks for saving me, I'm a…an important executive of the Czerka." The Twi'lek said.

"Griff, it's me Mission. You don't recognize me?" Mission said when she noticed that the Twi'lek was her older brother.

"Mission? Yeah, it's really you. I heard Taris had been destroyed, but you are here, safe and sound. Oh…joys of joys, my little sister is alive." Griff said.

"Griff, I run into Lenna a few days back and she told me that it was your decision to leave me on Taris." Mission said.

"Ah…well…hehe…there is the truth and there's the truth, you know." Griff said nervously.

"Wait, it means it's true?" Mission asked.

"Well, I knew you wouldn't like to leave Taris, that's why I left you there. And you did it well." Griff said.

"I can't believe this Griff! Don't talk to me, never ever again." Mission said upset.

"Mission has always been tempered, she would forgive me, she always does." Griff said.

"I'm not so sure this time." Conner said. "The Sand people said you are free to go."

"Thanks, do you have any credits? I need to solve some doubts." Griff said.

Conner shook his head. "Sorry, but I didn't bring any credits with me." He said.

* * *

Griff sighed and she said goodbye to Mission, but she ignored him. After Griff left, the trio returned to Anchorhead, when they were entering in the city, an alarm went off warning that a sand storm was coming, the trio rushed to the hangar and they arrived just in time, they climbed on the ship and lifted up the ramp.

"HK, report to the cargo hold." Conner said.

"Affirmation: As you wish master." HK said and went to the cargo hold. Conner saw HK walking away and then he turned to Mission.

"Mission are you alright?" He asked.

"Yes, I'm fine." Mission answered a sadly.

"You want to talk about it?" Conner asked. Mission nodded her head. Bastila heard Conner's voice from the hangar and she went to check if he had returned. She needed to know if he had found were the Star map was. When she was about to enter in the hangar, she looked inside and saw that Conner was talking with Mission. She couldn't hear them, but for Mission's expression, Bastila knew that she was upset.

"I know how you feel." Conner said. "It can be hard to admit that the people we admire the most can leave us behind."

"I know. I just can't believe I didn't know my brother." Mission said.

Conner put his hand on Mission's shoulder. "You are not alone Mission, we are all here for you, you can always count with us. We are now your new family, so when you have any doubts or fears, don't hesitate to speak with us."

"I will be the older brother you always wanted."

Mission hugged Conner and thanked him; she left the hangar and went to her room. Conner noticed Bastila near the archway, and he smiled at her.

"Hey." Conner said.

"Hey." She answered stepping inside the hangar. "Did you found the location of the Star map?" She asked.

Conner nodded his head and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Yes, it's inside a cave in the Easter Dune Sea. We can go tomorrow." He said.

"Good." She answered. "I saw you speaking with Mission."

"Yeah, she is pissed."

"Why?"

"We found his brother Griff. But he is a piece of work. He admitted leaving her behind on Taris."

"Poor Mission, is she going to be okay?"

"Yes, I told her we are all for her." A faint smile appeared in Bastila's face, "That is a sweet thing." She said. Conner let out a light chuckle as he landed against the metal wall. "Well, I'm going to take a shower; I have two extra kilos of sand in my boots." Conner said walking towards the bathroom. After 10 minutes beneath the cold water of the shower, Conner came out from the refresher and dress up with his khaki pants and brown boots. While he was finishing drying his face, he could hear the crew arguing about playing pazaak or chess, Conner only smiled.

* * *

He went out of the bathroom and crossed the hallway, he saw that Carth, Canderous, Zaalbar, Mission and T3 were playing pazaak and apparently Mission and T3 were winning. Conner stepped inside the kitchen looking for something to eat, when he noticed Bastila sitting at the table reading her book.

"Hey." He said.

"Hey." She said closing her book and put it above the table.

"I guess you prefer to be here than hearing the others yelling about pazaak right?" He said sitting in front of her.

Bastila chuckled. "Yes, but I thought you loved to hang around with them."

"Sometimes I like to be alone." Conner answered. "You want a cup of coffee?" He asked.

"Oh…no thanks." Bastila answered. Conner smiled and he got up from the table and went to the bar, he served some coffee in a cup and sat back again.

"So, what are you reading?" He asked.

"A story about a girl who becomes in the main heroine of her planet." Bastila answered.

"Can I see it?" Conner asked. Bastila handled the book to Conner and he started to browse the book. While Conner was browsing the book, Bastila looked at him with quite admiration. She looked carefully his face, he was a handsome man, and she knew this now. Conner had fair skin, and his face was always shaved with a light shade, but now he had let grown a short balbo beard. But what she found intriguing was his hair, she couldn't tell what color of hair he had. She even got used to see Conner shirtless every time he walked around the ship after taking a shower. A light chuckle escape from her lips, causing Conner to looked at her oddly.

"What?" He asked.

"Nothing, I was watching your hair." She answered.

"Now you like my hair?" He asked teasing.

"I found it intriguing."

"Why's that?"

"Well, where you have your hair shorter it has a darker tone, and where you have your bangs is has a lighter color." She said.

"So, you really want to know the color of my hair?" He asked.

She nodded. "My hair color is light brown, but I keep it like this since I joined to the Republic." He answered.

"It's good to know that detail." She answered. Conner smiled and sipped his coffee. He tapped his finger against the cup for a few minutes while the silence fell in the room.

"I know I have told you about me, but I will like to know about you." Conner said moments later.

"Well, I guess you need to know about me since we are traveling together." Bastila answered. "I come from Talravin, I was found Force-sensitive at young age, like most Padawans are., so the Jedi-Council recruited me to be trained."

"You sounded sad when you said that" Conner said.

Bastila sighed. "Sometimes, we can't hide the emotions of the heart." She answered.

"So, you left someone you loved behind?" Conner asked.

"Yes, I remember to missed my father terribly, he loved me and was heartbroken when I left, but my mother wasn't too sad when she gave me to the Order." She said.

"You weren't in good terms with your mother?"

"No, she pushed my father into treasure hunting. She loved to live in wealth, and I hated her for that."

Conner looked down at the table. "Well, I should go to rest; we have a long day tomorrow." He said minutes later standing up. "Good night."

"Good night."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Morning came and Conner got up early to prepare a small kit to go to the Eastern Dune Sea. While he was preparing a back pack, Bastila entered in the cargo hold.

"Good morning." She said.

"Morning." He answered.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"I'm preparing the back-packs with things we need to go to the Eastern Dune Sea. We don't want to die out there nor being killed without medpacs, don't you think?" He said.

"Yes, you are right."

"Well, we will leaving after midday, so start packing the things you will need, Carth and HK are also coming with us."

"I still don't know why you bought a bloody-droid. He is always looking at us like if we were targets." Bastila said.

Conner chuckled. "Don't worry, I'll talk with HK." He said.

Hours later, the party was finishing packing the things they would take with them while they searched for the Star map. "Oh, I need to do something before we leave." Conner said.

"What is it?" Carth asked.

"I need to tell the manager of the Czerka that the Sand people stopped their attacks." He answered.

"Go, we will wait for you." Carth said.

"I'll be back." Conner said and he came down from the ramp.

"Conner, wait!" Bastia said following him.

"What?" He asked.

"I'm coming with you. I'm bored to walk in circles inside the ship." She answered.

"Okay." He answered. They walked until they reached at the Czerka office, they went inside and Conner showed to the manager the gaffi stick, she was relieved and gave Conner 200 credits for the stick. Once they exited the Czerka office, a yellow Twi'lek approached to them.

"Excuse me; are you Bastila, Helena's daughter?" The Twi'lek asked.

"I am, how do you know my mother's name?" Bastila asked.

"I worked for your father a few years back, your mother showed me some holocrons with pictures of you before you left." The Twi'lek answered.

"Can you tell us what this is about miss?" Bastila asked. "As you can see, we are in quite a hurry."

"Don't be rude Bastila." Conner said.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know you were busy, I was just only asking about your mother's condition." The Twi'lek said.

"My mother's condition?" Bastila asked concerned.

"Oh, you didn't know?" The Twi'lek asked sadly. "Your mother is sick, the last time I saw her she was desperate trying to find you."

"Did she tell you something about my father?"

"No, in fact, I didn't saw him. But you should go and look for her. The last time I saw her, she was in a Cantina here in Tatooine."

"Thanks." Bastila answered. After the Twi'lek left Conner approached to Bastila.

"Princess, are you right?" He asked.

"I can't believe my mother is looking for me." She answered.

"You want to look for her in the cantina?" He asked.

"I don't know, part of me wants to ask her for my father, and the other doesn't want to see her." She answered.

* * *

"Come let's find your mother." He said. They walked to the nearest cantina in Anchorhead, but before they could walk in, a Duros alien warned them that a human took over the place like if she owned it. After leaving the Duros behind, the two Jedis entered in the cantina and searched the place. When Bastila saw her mother, she took a deep breath and approached to her. She stepped beside the table as her mother looked at her.

"Excuse me; do I know you?" Helena asked.

"It's me mother, or you don't recognize me?" Bastila said.

"What do you expect? I haven't had a picture of you since you left." Helena said.

"You knew as well as me that communication wouldn't be possible. Now, tell me, where is my father?" Bastila said.

"So, you don't know huh? I imagined that."

"What happened?"

"Your father is dead Bastila."

Bastila's blood froze when she heard these words. "Dead?" She asked fighting back tears. "You better tell me what you did to kill him this time."

"It isn't a lovely reunion? You there, one of her friends, did you treat your mother this way?" Helena asked a little upset.

"Um…my mother is long dead you know." Conner answered.

"Well I guess I'll be joining her soon enough." Helena said.

"Are you certain my father is dead?" Bastila asked coldly.

"You think I would tell you this if I wasn't sure?" Helena said. "Your father and other hunters went to look for kryat pearls in the Eastern Dune Sea, there a Kryat Dragon attacked them, a hunter saw your father been killed and flew the scene."

"I want you to look for his holocron and bring it to me."

"Why you want his holocron? So you can sell it?"

"No I want you to use those senses of yours and look for the holocron, I just want to see your father one last time."

"I don't know, we are on an important mission of the Council, ask Conner if he can search for it."

"Bastila, you don't want to look for the remains of your father?" Conner asked.

"What remains could be? And with the environment of this world I don't think we could find anything." She said coldly but also with a tone of sadness.

Conner took a deep breath and sighed. "We will look for the holocron. After we have it, we'll return." He said.

"I'll be waiting here. Please, hurry my dear." Helena said.

* * *

The two Jedis left the cantina, but before they could return to the Hawk, Conner stepped in front of Bastila. "Are you fine?" He asked softly.

"Yes." She answered fighting back tears. "C'mon, we need to find that Star map." She said and started to walk. After returning to the Hawk, the small party grab their backpacks and headed to the Eastern Dune Sea, when they went outside Anchorhead, Conner looked the map, and pointed to a pillar of stones and told the party that it was the location. After walking for a while they reached to the Eastern Dune Sea, they kept walking and saw a big cave where a Kryat Dragon was living there. Outside the cave, two hunters were waiting to hunt down the beast, one of them run straight to the cave but the Dragon killed him. Conner and the party approached to the Twi'lek hunter. He presented himself by the name of Komad Fortuna, and he told Conner he was hunting the Dragon due to a long family tradition, but he needed help.

Conner agreed to help Komad; he told Conner they needed to attract the Dragon to the outside of the cave where he had planted grenades. Conner and they party saw a herd of Banthas and tracked them to the cave, but they were attacked by other tribe of Sand People, after killing them, they tracked the herd again to the cave, when the Dragon went out of the cave the grenades exploded and killed the Dragon. Komad thanked Conner for killing the Dragon and he returned to Anchorhead, the group entered in the cave and looked at the Star map. Once they were in front of the machine, the Star map appeared, but it was also incomplete. Once Conner downloaded it on his datapad Carth said:

"Does anyone feel we are finding these things by coincidence?"

"Maybe, maybe not. HK stand guard outside the cave." Conner said.

"As you wish master." HK said and stood guard outside the cave.

Conner walked around the cave and found a small holocron; he lifted it and cleaned the sand from it. He saw the holocron had a name on it; the first letter he saw was an N. He cleaned the sand and revealed a surname. _S-H-A-N. Shan. _Conner had found the holocron of Bastila's father. He took a deep breath and walked to her.

* * *

"Hey." He said.

"Hey" She said. "Is there a problem?" She asked when she noticed a worried look on his face.

Conner shook his head and showed her the holocron. "It's your father's holocron."

Bastila's face changed dramatically, she took the holocron and sat on a near rock. Conner turned to Carth. "Can you wait outside with HK?" He asked.

Carth looked at him and then looked at Bastila. "Sure" He answered and left the cave. Conner turned to see Bastila and saw that she was trying her best for not to cry, but she was failing, while she was watching the pictures of her and her father, a single tear rolled down her cheek, then she closed her eyes holding the holocron closer to her. Conner walked to her and bent down until he was at the height of her eyes.

"Princess, are you fine?" He asked. She opened her eyes and saw Conner looking at her with a worried look. She needed someone to hold her, so she wrapped her arms around Conner's neck and buried her face in Conner's shoulder. Conner was surprised but still, he wrapped his arms around her small form. For the first time since they had begun their journey, Conner saw that Bastila's strength was an illusion; he felt her trembling in his arms.

"It's okay princess, I'm here. I got you." Conner said with a kind voice.

"I miss him so much." She said between sobs, Conner felt her arms tighten around his neck.

"I know you do." He said holding her closer. An eternity passed for Conner and Bastila; he kissed her gently on the head and rested his chin on the top of her head. She started to feel tired after crying for so long, she slowly separated her face from his shoulder and rested her head on his shoulder. Bastila felt safe in Conner's arms as she felt how he was giving her all his support through the bond. She wanted to know who this man really was; this wasn't the Dark Lord she faced on that bridge months ago. Somehow, Bastila knew this was the real Revan, not the monster everyone used to know, a faint smile appeared on her face.

"How do you feel?" He asked quietly.

"Better, thanks." She said looking at him. Conner saw that her eyes were still red, with a few tears running down from her cheeks, so he decided to clean the remains of her tears with his thumbs. She looked directly in his eyes and realized the beautiful golden amber color his eyes had.

"You have…beautiful eyes." She said with a faint smile.

"Thanks. You also have beautiful eyes, princess." He answered smiling. They lost in each other's eyes for a while; Conner left his hand over Bastila's cheek as their faces came closer, only inches apart. Bastila could feel her heart racing, without thinking she closed her eyes to enjoy the moment, but before they could go any further…

"Guys! Come and look at this!" Carth's voice said from the entrance of the cave.

"Great." Conner mumbled. "What is it?" Conner asked.

"You better come here at see it by yourself." Carth said.

Conner sighed and looked at Bastila. "C'mon." He said with a faint smile. The two Jedis came out from the cave running and stopped next to Carth and HK. Conner looked at the distance and saw a few speeders with five persons walking towards them.

"Query: Can I dispose of the meat bags, master?" HK said.

"No, wait HK." Conner answered. "Who's…?" He asked but soon he realized who the man was.

"Nord? I thought that bastard was dead."

"How the hell he survived?" Carth asked.

"You didn't think you could possibly get rid of me, right?" Calo said.

"I saw you been killed once Calo, don't think I can see it twice." Conner said.

Calo chuckled, "You are brave, but too stupid. This time there is no Sith, so there is not going to be surprises. It's show time guys."

Conner needed a plan. "Carth, you and HK are going to be our backups. Bastila, you and I are going to attack Calo." He said.

The party nodded and the two Jedis ignited their doubled-lightsabers and charged against Calo, Carth and HK concentrated their fire in Calo's thugs. Calo threw a grenade to Conner and Bastila, but they managed to dodge the grenade and charged against Calo again. After two of the thugs fell dead, one thug shot at Carth injuring him on the shoulder. Conner noticed what had happened to Carth and he rushed to his side. He could see a strain of blood that was growing from his shoulder.

"HK, stay with him." Conner said.

"Answer: As you wish master." HK said.

Conner returned to the fight and slashed the other thugs who were left. Then he and Bastila charged at Calo one last time, this time Conner stabbed Calo in the chest and he fell dead at their foot. The two Jedis deactivated their lightsabers and returned were the droid was.

* * *

"How is he?" Bastila asked.

"I don't know." Conner answered. He bent down beside him and placed a hand in his good shoulder. "Hey, buddy. How are you feeling?" He asked.

"I feel a hell of burning down my spine." Carth said.

"We need to heal his shoulder, let's set a camp here and tomorrow we'll return to Anchorhead." Conner said standing up.

"Where do you want to set the camp?" Bastila asked. Conner looked at the landscape and saw that the suns were setting, then he saw a perfect spot to set the camp. He pointed at the spot and they set the camp, after setting the camp, Conner entered in the tent with Carth, so there he could heal him.

"Do you need any help?" Bastila asked.

"Yes, bring a few bottles with water, I need you to put the water on a small bowl. With the water I'll clean the wound." Conner said.

Bastila nodded and did what Conner told her, minutes later, she entered with the bowl filled with water. Conner thanked her and she went outside the tent.

"Oh…great. Now I need to clean my favorite jacket." Carth said when he looked at his orange jacket covered in blood.

"You really love that jacket, don't you?" Conner asked grabbing a small cloth.

"My mother gave it to me when I turned eighteen. It was the last time she gave something before I joined with the Republic fleet." Carth said while Conner was cleaning the wound.

He chuckled and grabbed something from his neck. "This was the only thing my father gave me in my life." He said showing to Carth a necklace which had his dog tag and some objects.

"Let me guess, you never get along with your father." Carth said. Conner nodded while he was wrapping Carth's shoulder. Then he injected kolto on the shoulder and then he injected a sedative. After Carth had fallen asleep Conner exited the tent.

* * *

"How is Carth?" Bastila asked.

"He is going to be fine. I sutured the wound, injected kolto and a sedative on his shoulder. He'll be sleeping all night." Conner answered.

"That's good to hear." She said a cold breeze passed through the camp making Bastila to shiver.

"Are you cold?" Conner asked.

"A little." Bastila answered.

Conner took off his jacket and handled to her; she took it and covered herself with it. "Can I tell you something?" She asked.

"Sure." He answered.

"I think I misjudged you, I was wrong about you." She said.

"How's that?" He asked not believing what he had heard.

"When I met you, I thought you were childish and that you didn't care about this situation, but you've changed." She answered. "I must confess when you did your jokes, I believed you were an…" She tried to look for the right world. "Immature."

Conner left out a light chuckled. "Now I'm an immature?" He asked teasing her.

"I was just trying to look for a word." She said pushing him a little.

"So you are strong now?" He asked still teasing her.

"Well, yes." She said teasing him. Conner started to get up, as well as, Bastila. "Conner, what are you doing?" She asked.

He shook his head. "Nothing." Without thinking, Bastila started to run away from Conner, but he started to chase her. The two Jedis ran far from the camp, HK only saw them but he stayed guarding the camp. They ran up and down the sand dunes until Conner caught hold of her from behind and managed to lift her from the ground, but he didn't expect her to give him a nudge on the ribs. Conner released her and she ran away from him. Conner recovered himself and continued chasing Bastila; she stopped and walked backwards facing him. She never noticed a small rock and tripped with it, fortunately, she grabbed Conner's shirt and pulled him down with her. They rolled down the sand dune in each other's arms until they stopped; she was lying on top of him while Conner was laughing beneath her.

They looked at each other's eyes and stayed in silence for a few minutes, neither of them noticed the awkward position they were in. Bastila got up and sat up on the sand as well as Conner.

"Are you alright?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He answered smiling.

They stood in silence again, there, under the stars. Conner brushed a stain of Bastila's hair away from her face and rested his hand on her cheek. She looked so beautiful under the stars. She looked at him with quite admiration, he was handsome, and there, away from the campfire his eyes looked like warm lights for her. Time disappeared for the two Jedis, like they were the only ones in the Universe. Then, the reality struck her.

"Conner?" She asked softly.

"Yeah?" He answered.

"I…I think we should return before HK thinks something happened to you."

Conner sighed. "Okay." He got up and offered her his hand, she took it and he helped her to stood up and they returned to the camp.

* * *

A few minutes later, they were looking at the stars.

"See that?" He asked pointing at the sky. Bastila nodded. "That's Arkanis star system and that's Naboo Star system."

"I haven't done this in a long time." Bastila said.

"When was the last time you did this?" Conner asked.

"Since I was five. That's the last time I spent with my father." She answered sadly.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…"

She shook her head. "No, it's okay. I must be able to control my emotions."

"Hey, you don't need to apologize." He said wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "You are just human." He embraced her, she felt the safety Conner was giving her and she stayed closer to him. After a few minutes, Conner leaned against a rock with Bastila still in his arms. Although her mind was telling her she needed to break the embrace, she didn't listen. The only sound the two Jedis heard was the sound of the burning wood and their breaths. Bastila wrapped an arm around him and rested her head on his chest. An hour later, Conner was still looking at the stars and he looked down and noticed that Bastila was already asleep. He smiled and covered her with the blanket.

"Sweet dreams princess." He said and finally fell asleep.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

The next day, Conner woke up first, he opened his eyes and looked down and saw that Bastila was still sleeping on his chest.

"Hey princess, wake up." He whispered to her.

Bastila stirred in her sleep and snuggled more to him. "Please, don't tell me its morning already." She said in a sleepy voice.

Conner smiled. "I hate to give you bad news, but yes, it's morning." He said.

"I hate to wake up early." She said.

"I thought you all Jedis loved to wake up at sunrise." He said almost laughing.

She chuckled. "You and I are the exceptions. I like to wake up after sunrise."

Conner smiled, moments later, Bastila opened her eyes and look up, she saw Conner smiling at her and she returned the smile.

"Well, I need to see how Carth is." Conner said getting up.

"Do you have a plan to return to Anchorhead?" Bastila asked.

"Yeah, see those speeders?" He said pointing at the speeders which, until yesterday, they belong to Calo and his thugs. "We are going to take one and return to Anchorhead. It's going to be faster and more comfortable for Carth. I don't think he would like to cross the Sea Dune in his condition."

"Yes, you are right." She answered. Conner entered in the tent and saw that Carth was already awake, but he was dizzy due to the sedate. Conner asked him how he was feeling and Carth said that everything was spinning. Conner told him not to worry. After a few minutes, the camp was lifted and Conner helped Carth to get into the speeder, then he, Bastila and HK got into the speeder. Conner turned on the speeder and they returned to Anchorhead. They returned to the Hangar where the Hawk was and they boarded the ship.

* * *

Conner took Carth to the medbay and applied more kolto on his wound. After that Carth returned to his dormitory and tried to rest. Meanwhile, Conner took the opportunity to take a quick shower and changed his clothes. Bastila did the same, and after taking a shower, they sat at the table to have lunch. Conner could feel Bastila's anxiety as he saw her looking at her food.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

"Huh? Oh yes, I'm fine." She said.

"Are you sure?" He asked.

She sighed. "No, I don't know how to say this; I thought I could do this alone, but now…"

"What's the matter?"

"I want to talk with my mother, but I don't know if I can do it."

Conner thought for a moment, he took a deep breath and said, "Do you want me to come with you?"

"You want to?" She asked curious.

"Only if you decide it." He answered.

She nodded her head. "Yes."

A few hours later, Conner and Bastila went out from the ship and started to walk towards the cantina. When they arrived, she stood in front of the door.

"I don't know if I can do this Conner." She said.

"C'mon. I'll be there for you, no matter what happens." He said gently.

Bastila knew his words were true, but still, she was scared. "I'm scared Conner. I'm scared to confront the past." She said lowering her head.

Conner stepped closer to her and placed his hand over her arm. "Hey, I know you can do this, you know why?" He asked. She looked at him in confusion. "Because you're the most amazing, intelligent and the most beautiful woman I've ever met."

"Conner…" She said shyly with a light blush.

"Princess, it's okay to be scared, sometimes is hard to take the first step."

Bastila took a deep breath and stared at Conner's golden eyes. "You are not going anywhere, right?" She asked.

"No, I'll be there for you." He answered. Bastila took a deep breath and grabbed Conner's hand as they walked inside the cantina. Then they walked to the table where Helena was.

"You have returned. Do you have the holocron with you?" She asked.

"Yes, I have it mother, but I don't know if I want to give it to you." Bastila said.

"Are you going to deny me even that? I'm just a dying woman who wants to see her husband one last time." Helena said.

"You think I don't remember the fights?" Bastila asked. "I remember that you loved to live in wealth, that's why my father went on treasure hunting."

"You foolish girl, you have a weird way to remember things. Your father…"

"No, please mother. I don't want to fight with you. I just want to know why you gave me to the Order." Bastila said sadly.

Helena took a deep breath. "Your father loved to go in treasure hunting. He told me that he wanted to take you with him, but I disagree. That's why I decided to give you to the Jedi."

"But why?" Bastila asked.

"What would your father and I'd taught you from those trips? Nothing, besides that wasn't a life for someone as gifted as you." Helena answered.

"Your father came here to look for kryat pearls to pay my treatments, but…"

"Your treatments?"

"I'm dying Bastila, I didn't lie about that. I told your father to let me go but, you know how he was, stubborn just like you."

"What do you want to do with my father's holocron?" She asked.

"Keep it; I'd be happy to know that you have it." Helena said.

"Where are you going?" Bastila asked.

"It doesn't matter dear." Helena answered.

Bastila search for something in her pocket and gave her to her mother. "Here take this 500 credits, is all I have. Go to Coruscant and look for a doctor, I want to talk to you after this is over." She said.

"Thank you, now you said you had important things, go and make your father and I proud." Helena said and then she looked at Conner. "You…you there! Take care of my daughter, you hear me?"

"As if she let me." Conner answered.

"Well you make her to do it." Helena said.

After saying goodbye to her mother, Bastila and Conner went out from the cantina. Conner took a deep breath and got closer to her.

* * *

"You want to talk with me?" She asked.

"Yeah, how are you feeling?" He asked.

"Better, thanks for helping me." She answered.

Conner smiled at her. "I know that you might be alone for now, but if you need to talk with someone, we can walk around Anchorhead. But if you prefer to be alone, we can return to the Hawk." He said.

"No, I don't want to return to the ship yet. I would prefer to walk around the port." She answered.

The two walk around Anchorhead until they reached a small plaza, they sat on a bench, the suns were getting down, the sky had a very romantic color, pink, blue, purple and orange made the contrast in the sky.

"I know I had already told you about my family, but I would like to hear about yours." Bastila said playing nervously with her hands.

"There's not much to say, I never met my mother and my father was a drunken man, I never had the chance to meet him, sometimes I thought he drank to forget that I ever existed. I became independent at very young age because my father was rarely at home."

"That's why you acted so childish?" She asked.

Conner chuckled. "Yes, I never had the chance to play with boys of my same age. When I turned fourteen, I decided to run away from home, I remember one day I grabbed my backpack filled with cloth and food, I took the credits I had earn by doing works and I just left. I never saw my father again. When I turned sixteen, a group of smugglers invited me to join to them, that's when I began my career as smuggler. By the age of eighteen I had been in almost all the sectors of the Outer Rim." He said. Bastila felt his grief; she realized how lucky she was to meet her parents before joining to the Order.

"Conner, I'm sorry." She said and took his hand in hers.

Conner turned his look at her, she noticed a tear in his eye, and gently she cleaned the tear with her thumb and left her hand on Conner's cheek. He smiled and turned to look at the sunsets. Bastila rested her head in Conner's shoulder and they stayed in silence for minutes, but for them, look like hours. Hours later, the two Jedis returned to the Hawk.

* * *

The next day, the Hawk left Anchorhead and they traced course to Kashyyyk. This time, the one who was piloting the Hawk was Conner; after all, Carth was injured. The journey took three days, in that time; Zaalbar spent most of the time quiet, he barely spoke to anyone, except for Mission. Conner tried to speak with him, but Zaalbar wasn't in a good mood. One day before the Hawk arrived to Kashyyyk, the crew was on the main hold, Canderous and Mission were playing pazaak; Carth, T3 and Juhuani were watching them. Conner was sitting next to Zaalbar; he needed to know what was happening with the wookie, so he tried to speak with him again.

"Hey Zaalbar, are you fine?" He asked.

"_I'm afraid I'm not Conner."_ Zaalbar answered.

"You want to tell me what's happening?" He asked again.

"_I must have warned you about what we might find in my homeworld." _Zaalbar said.

"What are you talking about?"

"_Mission probably told you that I left my homeworld, but the truth is that I was exiled from my home."_

Conner stared at the wookie with a confused look. _"I found out that my brother was making deals with the slavers, and I attacked him. But when my father knew what I had done, he refused to believe me and I was exile because I used my claws. I will be always remembered as a madclaw." _Zaalbar said.

"Don't worry Zaalbar, as soon as the problem presents we will deal with it." Conner said.

"_I don't have much hope."_

* * *

Later, that night Conner was walking towards his room when he noticed Canderous in the cargo hold, he was cleaning his Mandalorian rifle. Conner entered in the cargo hold and leaned against the workbench.

"Hey Canderous."

"What do you want?"

"I was wondering if you knew something about Kashyyyk."

"The planet where the living carpet comes from?" Canderous thought for a second. "No, we were never interested to invade planets in the Mid Rim."

"Did you ever went to Dxun when you hanged with the smugglers?"

"Yes, two times, after the Mandalorian Wars." Conner said and showed to Canderous his necklace with a piece of metal on it. "This is part of a lightsaber; I found it outside and old Mandalorian post."

"I think that piece of metal is from Revan's lightsaber." Canderous said.

"You're kidding." Conner said.

"Nope." Canderous said shaking his head. "I never believe too, 'til one Mandalorian told me what happened."

Conner was about to ask Canderous to told him the story, but Canderous started to tell the story.

"The young Mandalorian told me that Revan and his followers attacked the Mandalorian post by surprise, so one of the most trusted Generals of Mandalore led the attack against Revan. The kid said that he saw when the General was able to destroy Revan's lightsaber using only his viborblade. But somehow, Revan managed to take other lightsaber from his belt and killed the General. After that, some Mandalorians ran away to tell Mandalore about what had happened."

"And that's when the Republic took control over Dxun, right?" Conner asked.

"Yeah." Canderous nodded. "Months later, I heard that something was different in Revan, he was the same great strategist but with a dark essence." He said.

"Maybe Revan was already influenced by the Dark Side."

Canderous nodded. "Maybe he was."

* * *

After three days, the Hawk arrived at Kashyyyk, it was night when it arrived, so the crew decided to wait until the next morning to descend and look for the Star Map. After dinner, everyone went to sleep. Around dawn, Conner experienced another vision, this time he was on the forest floor; he could hear the animals that lived there. Then, he saw it, the Star Map, next to a big computer. Conner woke up and took a deep breath. After taking a shower, he took breakfast and minutes later, he found Bastila in the main hold waiting for him.

"The Force has given us another vision." She said.

"Yeah, it seems that it was on the forest floor." Conner answered.

"That's odd, only the bravest wookies descend to the shadowlands. No doubt things will come clearer when we find the location of the Star Map." She said. Then she noticed that Conner was distracted.

"Are you fine? You seem distracted."

"What?...Oh, yes. I'm fine."

Minutes later, the crew was in the main hold, Conner told them that they needed to get information about the Star Map. Conner organized a small party, Zaalbar, Juhuani, Bastila and he would be the ones in charge to get answers about the Star Map, of course, Zaalbar wasn't too happy to get down from the Hawk. Five minutes later, the party descended from the Hawk and they were stopped by the docking manager, who told them that they needed to pay the docking fee. Conner paid it and the manager asked Conner if he needed a translator due to Zaalbar, but Conner answered that he could understand the wookie language. After walking for a while, they exited the port and reached at the Great Walkway, where they found a group of Czerka officers talking about taking care of a wookie corpse.

Conner asked what had happened, but the Czerka captain told him that the wookie needed to be put down. This, of course, didn't like anything to Zaalbar, but before he could attack the Czerka, Conner stopped them. Conner told the Czerka that they would never hurt another wookie, the officers laughed and said he was a fool, a fight started but the party defeated the officers and continued walking, until Zaalbar stopped.

"Zaalbar, what's wrong?" Conner asked.

"_I shouldn't have come, Conner. My village isn't too far from here." _Zaalbar said.

"Don't worry Zaalbar, if we see a problem, we'll handle it."

"_I'm not so sure." _Zaalbar said.

The party continued walking, until they found a small group of Dark Jedi. When the Dark Jedi saw them, one of them said that Malak was looking for them.

Conner sighed. "Don't you know anything else?" He asked taking his double-lightsaber.

The Dark Jedi growled at them and charged, the party raised their weapons and charged at the Dark Jedi. Conner fought the leader of the Dark Jedi, while the others fought the other Dark Jedi. Conner ignited his blue double-lightsaber and charged at the Dark Jedi, the blue and red blades crashed against each other. The Dark Jedi took a few steps back and swung his lightsaber and tried to strike Conner, but he dodged the attack and whirled his lightsaber. When Conner tried to strike the Dark Jedi, he blocked the strike with one of his blades and deactivated the other, he hit Conner with the lightsaber on the forehead and Conner fell down.

"Conner!" Bastila said when she saw Conner falling over the wooden floor.

"You Jedis are weak; no wonder why you are losing this War." The Dark Jedi said walking towards Conner. Conner tried to reach out for his lightsaber, but the Dark Jedi hit him in the stomach. Conner tried to recover his breath, but the Dark Jedi bent down and started to choke Conner.

"Lord Malak will be proud when he knows you are dead!" The Dark Jedi said while Conner was struggling to free himself.

Bastila slashed the Dark Jedi in front of her and rushed where Conner was. "Let him go!" She said charging at the Dark Jedi.

But the Dark Jedi kept choking Conner, who had a red color on his face. Fortunately, Bastila arrived just in time before the Dark Jedi could kill Conner, she stabbed him on the chest and the Dark Jedi fell next to Conner.

"Conner, are you fine?" She bent down next to him, while Conner was coughing to recover his breath.

"Yeah…I'm…fine." He said panting. He sat on the floor and took a deep breath.

"You are injured." She said looking a small cut on Conner's forehead.

"Don't worry, is nothing." He answered giving her a faint smile.

"Easy." She said helping him to stand up.

"I'm fine." He said and stared to walk, but the hit on the head made feel Conner a little dizzy. He almost lost his balance, but Bastila held him just in time.

"I don't think so." She said wrapping an arm around him. The party arrived at a division where a wookie told them that they had bring a madclaw with them and that Chuundar wanted to see them. Once in the village, Chuundar took Zaalbar captive and told to Conner he needed a favor from him. He needed to kill another madclaw who was living in the shadowlands and was killing the Czerka officers.

* * *

"Why you want me to do your dirty work?" Conner asked.

"_Because if you agree to do it, I'll free my brother and he will return to you." _Chuundar said.

"And if I refuse to do it?" Conner asked.

"_Well, I would have no choice but to kill Zaalbar and your entire crew Conner Desman." _Chuundar said.

Conner was surprised as he heard Chuundar's words. "_**Conner**_." He heard Bastila in his head. He looked over his shoulder and saw that she had a worried look in her eyes.

"_I will make this very simple for you Conner Desman." _Chuundar said which make Conner to look at the wookie.

"_You have until tomorrow to make a decision, you'll be allowed to enter to the village again, but you aren't allowed to descend to the shadowlands until you make a decision." _Chuundar said.

"_You can go now, my guards will escort you."_

"Wait, what about Zaalbar?"

"_He says here until you make a decision, and if you make the right decision, he will be a guaranty for your return."_

The wookie guards escorted the party outside the village and they returned to the Hawk. When they boarded the ship, the rest of the crew was already in the main hold.

"You've returned!" Mission said hugging Conner, when she broke the hug, she noticed someone was missing. "Where's Big Z?"

Conner rubbed the back of his neck and took a deep breath. "Mission, Zaalbar… has been captured."

"Captured?" The young Twi'lek said surprised. "By who?"

"By his older brother, Chuundar." Juhuani answered.

"Zaalbar has an older brother?" Carth asked curious. "What the hell happened while you were out there?"

Conner sighed, "We're walking down the Great Walkway when a wookie stopped us, and told us that we have bring a madclaw with us." He said.

"Zaalbar?" Mission asked.

Conner nodded. "Yeah, then he said that Chuundar wanted to saw us, we were escorted to the village. There Chuundar told Zaalbar that he was the new chieftain, but Zaalbar wasn't too happy and he asked where their father was, Chuundar told him that his father Freyyr was exiled to the shadowlands after discovering that Chuundar made deals with the Czerka."

"So, Chuundar has Zaalbar, why?" Carth asked.

"He asked Conner to do him a favor." Juhuani answered.

"What kind of favor?" Canderous asked.

Conner took a deep breath. "He wants me to kill a wookie." The three people who didn't go with the party froze when Conner said these words.

"Kill a wookie?!" Carth asked surprised.

"Is that walking carpet out of his damn mind?!" Canderous asked, although he didn't like the wookies, he saw Zaalbar like an essential part of the group.

"What's going to happen if you don't agree to kill the wookie?" Mission asked.

"He's going to kill Zaalbar." Conner answered.

Mission's jaw practically fell when Conner said this, she didn't want to lose her first friend. "Don't worry Mission; I won't let anything happen to Zaalbar or to the wookie in the shadowlands." Conner said placing a hand on her shoulder.

She embraced Conner and said. "I know." She broke the embrace and went to her room. Conner sighed and leaned against the holoprojector.

"You're bleeding." Carth said.

"What?" Conner asked.

"Your head…is bleeding." Carth said pointing to Conner's head.

Conner placed his fingers where the Dark Jedi had hit him a few hours ago, when he looked his fingers, blood covered them.

"Let me see that." Bastila said trying to saw better the injury.

"I'm fine. Really." Conner said.

"No, you're not. You're coming with me." She said and led him to the medbay. Once they arrived, Bastila told Conner to sit in the bed while she was preparing something.

"Princess, it's okay. I'm fine; I only have a big headache." He said crossing his arms.

"We both know that's not true." She said placing a small bowl next to him. She grabbed a small towel and dipped it in the water of the bowl.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"I'm going to clean your cut, so stay still." She said, Conner sighed and do what Bastila told him to do. After a few minutes, she had finish cleaning the wound. "I'm going to use the Force to heal the injury, don't move." She said and placed her hand on Conner's cheek and closed her eyes. Conner could feel a warm sensation along his head and face, without knowing what he was doing, he placed his hand over Bastila's and closed his eyes.

* * *

When the warm sensation vanished, they opened their eyes and stared at each other. Then they realized how close their faces were.

"I'm…I'm." Conner tried to say clearing his throat with a light blush on his face. "Thanks" He managed to say at last.

"You're…welcome." Bastila answered with a light blush in her face.

"I should…"

"Yes, you have a decision to make for tomorrow."

Conner got up and walked to the door. "Goodnight." He said.

"Goodnight." Bastila answered. Conner smiled and he went to sleep. Around midnight, Conner was stirring in his sleep, outside the ship it was raining, so Conner woke up at the same time a lightning lit up the sky. He was sweating and breathing heavily, he looked out the window and saw it was still night. He sat on the edge of his bed and placed his head between his hands. _I need fresh air._ He said and got up; he put on his white t-shirt, his brown boots and his red jacket and left the room. He went down from the ship and walked under the rain away from the ship. He stood under the rain for minutes, or maybe hours, he wasn't sure, his mind was somewhere else, he was staring at the few wroshyr trees which were visible. He never noticed someone was behind him.

"Conner?" The voice said.

Conner turned around and saw Bastila standing a few meters away from him. Her Jedi robe was wet as well as her hair but not as much as he was. "Hey." He said with a faint smile.

"What are you doing here?" She asked walking to him.

"I couldn't sleep." He answered. "I have been thinking about something Master Vrook said before we left Dantooine."

Bastila looked at him with question in her eyes. Conner took a deep breath, "When I was training under Master Zhar, I heard Vrook saying I'm doom to fall to the Dark Side."

"I feel like the whole galaxy is watching every move I make, and the moment I make a mistake they'll tell me I'm going to fail or fall to the Dark Side." He said crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"And now, we have all this situation about Chuundar holding captive Zaalbar, I don't want to kill a wookie, but I don't want Chuundar to kill Zaalbar."

"Conner, I don't think you're going to fail." She said placing her hands on Conner's arms. "I know you must be sick of my lectures about the Dark Side and…everything else, but I know you're going to make the right decision." She felt his muscles relaxing; Conner lowered his arms and gave her a faint smile.

Without thinking, she leaned up to him, but she noticed what she was doing and looked away, Conner cupped her cheek and turned her head to him, her eyes meeting his golden ones. She lost in them and Conner leaned to her, she could feel her heart racing as his face came closer. His lips met hers and they fell into a kiss, it was sweet and a new experience for Bastila, she placed her hand on his cheek, but then the reality struck her, she broke the kiss reluctantly.

"I'm…sorry. But…I" Conner said but she placed a finger on his lips.

"Please, can we forget about this?" She asked in a soft voice.

He took her hand away from his mouth and lowered it. "You want to forget about the kiss?" He asked.

She nodded her head. Conner took a deep breath and said "Sure." She lifted her head meeting his eyes and saw a sad look in his eyes. She took a few steps back and started to walk to the ship.

"Are you coming?" She asked.

He shook his head, "Go ahead, I'll return to the ship in a few minutes."

* * *

The next morning, Bastila tried to avoid Conner, she was confused, why she had kiss him last night? She wasn't sure, but to calm herself she recite the Jedi Code every time she remembered the kiss. Luckily for her, Conner wasn't around and she didn't notice it until afternoon. She entered in the main hold where Canderous, Mission and the droids were.

"I know I should have asked this earlier but, have you seen Conner?" Bastila asked.

"He returned to the village." Mission answered.

"Yeah, he got up early and took Orange and the Cathar with him." Canderous said.

"Why he didn't tell me?" Bastila asked.

"He said he didn't want to wake you up. He's been all day in the village, I'm worried for Zaalbar." Mission said sadly.

The sound of the ramp broke the silence that fell on the main hold. Carth, Juhuani and Conner stepped inside the main hold. "Finally, you returned, what took you all day?" Canderous asked.

"We spent the day discussing about the deal with Chuundar." Conner said.

"And what happened?" Mission asked.

"Conner decided to accept Chuundar's deal; he is going to descend to the shadowlands." Carth said.

"You are going to kill the wookie?" Bastila asked surprised.

Conner shook his head. "No, I'll try to convince him to join us to fight against Chuundar, and free Zaalbar." He answered.

"I'll need two of you who want to come to the shadowlands with me." Conner said and Canderous raised his hand.

"Statement: It will be a pleasure to descend with you master to a land plagued with giant meatbags." HK said.

"Ok HK, the others will stay here, we'll back in two days." Conner said.

"Conner, I want to go." Bastila said.

"I'm sorry princess, not this time." He said shaking his head. Bastila was surprised and a little mad at Conner.

After a few minutes, the small party was ready to leave when Canderous noticed Bastila coming to their way. "Hey, be careful." He said to Conner. "Icy Queen at twelve o'clock." Conner turned around and saw Bastila a few meters away from them; he could feel she was upset.

"Query: Do you want me to dispose of the female meatbag for you master?" HK asked.

"No HK, I'll handle her." He said. "Wait me in the Great Walkway." Canderous nodded and with HK, they left the ship port. Conner took a deep breath and smiled at her.

"It's there a problem princess?"

"Yes, I want to know what you aren't allowing me to go with you." Bastila answered crossing her arms.

"The shadowlands are a dangerous place for you to go." He answered.

"Conner, I'm not a baby. I can take care of myself." She said.

"Still my answer is no."

"Why are you doing this? First, we battle against pack of Kath hounds on Dantooine and then a Kryat dragon on Tatooine, but you don't want me to go the shadowlands." She said getting upset.

"There are bloody creatures down there!" He answered almost yelling this part.

"That's not a reason for…"

"_I want you safe!"_

Bastila wasn't mad at Conner anymore, instead she was confused. "What?" She asked.

Conner sighed and placed his hands on her arms. He looked at her, "Do you remember that day on Dantooine when the droid exploded?" He asked.

Bastila nodded. "When I asked you how you were, you didn't answer for five minutes, but when you opened your eyes and looked up at me I was relieved." He said.

"Princess, I know you are not a baby, I know you can take care of yourself. But there will be always someone who wants to protect you. I want to be that someone. I don't know what I would do if something happens to you" Bastila lower her head looking at the floor. "Conner..."

"Please, stay here with the others. I'll be calm knowing you are here safe." He said placing his hand on her cheek. She bit her lower lip and nodded. "Thanks." He said and started to walk. Before he could go out from the ship port, she called him.

"Conner, wait!"

Conner turned around with a confused look, she walked until she was in front of him and embraced him. Conner was surprised for her display of affection, but still he wrapped his arms around her and sensed her sweet sent. "Be careful." She whispered him.

He broke the embrace, "I will. I'll be back in two days." He said with a faint smile and left the ship port running so he could reunite with Canderous and HK who were waiting for him. As soon as Conner left, Bastila felt her heart skip a beat. _What's wrong with me?_ She asked herself; every time Conner was around she felt she was complete, but when he wasn't around, she felt incomplete. What was that feeling that made her feel like a teenage girl every time she was around him? _You love him,_ a voice inside her said. **LOVE**, that was the word, she was in love with him. _No, I can't love him, he is…was the Dark Lord. _She said although she had already broken this statement. _I need to end this. _She said and locked on her room waiting for Conner to return.


End file.
